<b><b>Public sector housing providers are looking to &amp;“move up the food chain&amp;” and take the lead in new developments, reversing traditional roles. What will this mean for private sector builders? The advice is &amp;“feel the competition, but don&amp;’t panic&amp;” as Allison Heller reports</b></b><br><b>Mixed communities. It&amp;’s the vision of the Communities Plan and the way of the future, so John Prescott tells us. And it&amp;’s where the &amp;£22 billion package to improve the state of housing over the next three years is going. </b><br><b>But successfully integrating private and social housing naturally demands a blurring of the line between two traditionally separate sectors. This growing crossover is increasingly rearing its head through partnerships between private developers and registered social landlords (RSLs), and instances of the latter building homes for sale themselves. </b><br><b>The Places for People Group&amp;’s new private housing arm Emblem Homes recently pipped the likes of Barratt and Wimpey at the post in its successful tender to masterplan the &amp;£300 million Walker Riverside development in Newcastle. It is also developing Chilwell Gardens as a &amp;£16 million mixed tenure community in South Oxhey, Hertfordshire, and expects to complete this by early 2005. 91 of the 118 homes will be up for outright …