Councils across the length and breadth of England and Wales now know the truth. This Labour Party will stop at nothing to completely reconstitute the current local government structure. Simultaneously, and with almost wilful abandon, it is also pro-actively encouraging hundreds of thousands of new homes, in already overcrowded and often poorly resourced communities.

Indeed, Mr. Prescott's obsession with regionalisation, and dramatically increased housing quotas, is now firmly in the public domain. What has been muted quietly in the corridors of Westminster for years, is now “out for consultation". And we all know the kind of consultation Mr. Prescott's talking about. The kind that will most definitely result in unitary authorities, over-lorded by regional assemblies, and a new town round the corner in almost every part of the South East.

So how can we be sure about forthcoming regionalisation? Perhaps this conservative minded scribe has lost the plot himself. Well, the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Bill lets the cat out of the bag. This Bill would not only heavily reduce County Councils strategic planning responsibilities, but also completely abolish County Structure Plans. By way of an even stronger hint that regional governance is not far off, this Bill also aims to scrap Regional Planning Guidance Notes (RPGs) and have them replaced by Regional Spatial Strategies, which would be drafted by none other than Regional Assemblies.

Happily, the Government is currently struggling to introduce this Bill in the current Parliament, and it is now expected that it will only receive Royal Assent in the next. However, we can rest assured that many aspects of the proposed changes will start filtering down to local government as early as spring 2004. Personally, whilst not being overjoyed by the above proposed changes to local government structures, I can just about live with them. However, when it comes to the ridiculously inflated housing quotas that are now “on the table", my blood just boils.

In February this year the Government published the quite appropriately titled policy document “Sustainable Communities: Building for the Future". Appropriately titled in so far as “Building for the Future” - there will be a lot of that - but quite how they think this will result in sustainable communities, heaven only knows. The proposed new-build numbers are horrendous.

An extra 200,000 homes to be built in London, South East and Eastern region by 2016, on top of the already agreed new-build figure of approximately 1.1 million (from 2001 to 2016). If this does not make the hair stand up on the back of your neck, this document also brings forward proposals to build 300,000 to 500,000 additional houses in the Stansted-Cambridge corridor (although some of this figure might be deducted from the already agreed development proposals).

You don't need to be a rocket scientist to work out that given the current poor infrastructure capacity, the proposed new-build figures are going to quite dramatically increase the already long commute to work (officially the longest in Europe). Indeed, quite apart from deteriorating journey times and increased congestion, places at schools, appointments with doctors, in fact anything to do with daily life in the community, will under these proposals become an even bigger struggle.

One can only ask the question. What planet is Mr. Prescott and the Labour Government on? Do they ever come down to Earth to see what it is like for the rest us? Do they actually live in their local communities? How can they be considering such an unbelievable expansion in new housing provision, without addressing the undoubted infrastructure needs well in advance?

Do they honestly believe that an extra lane on the M25 will offer enough new capacity to accommodate up to 500,000 new homes in the Stansted-Cambridge corridor? I think not.

The time has come for local communities to say “No” to Labour's appalling housing proposals. Green fields will be lost, roads will become even more congested, pollution will increase, and quality of life for millions of people will undoubtedly deteriorate.

Labour came to power singing “Things Can Only Get Better".

Well, we all know that under Labour everything is just getting worse.