Government advisors have warned ministers that without committing billions of pounds of funding for infrastructure deputy prime minister John Prescott’s housing plans in the south east will be hard to deliver. A Milton Keynes partnership committee that includes English Partnerships and councillors has highlighted the scale of investment needed with the infrastructure price tag for proposed eastern and western extensions to the town expected to be between £1.2 billion and £1.5 billion by 2011. Many believe an infrastructure tariff on the sites in Milton Keynes, the first agreed in the UK, will be a forerunner for Barker’s planning gain supplement which will help fund vital facilities such as roads, schools and hospitals. Developers will pay a levy of £18,000 for each house completed. This could raise around £270 million. Chair of EP Margaret Ford said: “Now that we have exposed the scale of the investment required in Milton Keynes I would look for some fairly rapid responses from other government departments and utilities on how feasible it would be to come to a view [of costs].” (The Guardian)