A “local delivery vehicle” might sound quaint and unthreatening – like a milk truck or a taxi – but this is one of the means by which the Government is bribing your local council to force more homes into your area.

The Government is determined not to be seen to be building on green belt land, so it is promising incentives, money and development opportunities to local authorities that “find” brownfield land on which to build 70,000 new affordable homes each year.

Some of these will be in the quaint villages and towns where opposition to development is generally strongest. These unspoilt areas are so beloved of those who own second homes that the opportunities for people on low wages are dire. Thus, relief should be at hand for cash-strapped buyers in areas around Holdsworthy in Devon, St Miniver in Cornwall, Buckland Newton in Dorset, Worth Matravers in Dorset, Carhampton and Withycombe in Somerset, Bishops Castle in Shropshire and Chipping in Lancashire.

But almost every authority will feel the squeeze. Towns that have already volunteered for expansion – such as Milton Keynes, Ashford and the Thames Gateway area – must find space for even more homes. The same applies for the 29 “new growth points”, such as Truro, Swindon, Coventry and Norwich.

These growth areas have been encouraged by extra funding for services and help with economic development – or, according to the Government, “extra cash for housing hotspots”. But there are likely to be towns in the North that were not invited into the scheme until today that will be willing to take the money on offer.

But this will not be enough to prevent every local authority from having to revisit their regional spatial strategies and revise them to, somehow, include more homes. If they manage to do so, they can expect more cash from government for services and infrastructure. If they don’t, their planning decisions are liable to be overturned.

The Government is being true to its word in forcing organisations such as the Highways Agency to surrender spare land. This will find its way into the local authorities’ portfolios and ease the burden.

But it will be too little consolation when local councillors or planners find themselves caught on the hard edge of a Nimby’s placard.

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