The new Labour government has invented something called the “Grey Belt”, about which nobody previously knew. It is proposing to build on it, to help to meet its big plans for new housing development. But what kind of housing will it be? One looks in vain for any clue in Labour party policy.

Unlike Tony Blair’s 1997 government, to which this new government is often compared, it is improbable that there will be a commission to today’s equivalent of Richard Rogers to write a “Towards an Urban Renaissance” policy for the 2020s. So far Angela Rayner shows no sign of being a new John Prescott.

Given what looks like a continuation of the dependence on commercial house-builders to achieve the projected housing numbers, it seems likely that we shall get low density urban enlargement similar to what we already have - just more of it.

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