The government’s plans for building communities in the greater South East are vital but floored, says a think tank report, and could end up delivering the next regeneration areas instead of the communities desired.

The Institute for Public Policy Research also said plans for 200,000 new homes by 2016 will not be sufficient as current house building plans across the region will fail to keep in place with the growth of new households by as many as 217,000 units by 2016.

While pointing out that attention has correctly been focussed on the environmental impact of such extensive house building, the report focuses on a number of wider social and economic risks and challenges in the growth areas and claims they risk being sidelined or obscured by technical issues such as water supply, flood risk and energy efficiency.

The authors of the report make clear they agree with the need to provide more housing and indeed say that growth areas have the potential to be a much better model for delivering growth, in social, economic and environmental terms.

Growth areas can also deliver more homes while taking less undeveloped land. They allow for a strategic approach to meeting transport and community needs alongside those for new homes, and for housing growth and economic development strategy to be aligned.

But, focussing on the social and economic challenges, the IPPR finds that for the growth areas to be successful in delivering places where people want to live and work there needs to be a greater commitment from across government to the challenges.

The report warns against building too many two-bedroom flats and highlights the need for developments to include more housing suitable for families. Proposed growth areas should be clearly defined with strong boundaries to protect against urban sprawl.

Other recommendations include mixed tenure developments where all housing is built to the same standard, an emphasis on public spaces and community facilities and public services such as health centres and schools being placed at the centre of the growth area developments.

The report warns against repeating earlier mistakes pointing out that ‘land-hungry’ plans failed to meet the needs of the communities. The old model also failed because it provided no incentives at the local level for communities to accept growth.