The Home Counties have long been a byword for gentility. But something is stirring amid the golf courses of Surrey, the retirement havens of Sussex and, for that matter, the new towns of the London overspill and the economically depressed coastal resorts of the South East. It concerns not just projected house building numbers but, just as crucially, the infrastructure needed to sustain those homes and who will pay for it. A recent report for the region's councils has put an £8 billion price tag on the gap between what is needed for additional infrastructure - including social housing - and the funds currently known to be available. The councils, which possess considerable powers to cause difficulties over planning permission, are insisting that the £8 billion must come from a combination of central government and private funders. Even if the government agrees to that view, is it realistic? Under the sustainable communities plan, an attempt is in progress to manage growth in the South East by concentrating development in the Thames Gateway, Milton Keynes, Ashford and the M11 corridor.
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