Media and political coverage has concentrated on the government's plans for starter homes, which will be sold at a discount to first time buyers. Councils will have a duty to deliver starter homes and they look set to replace affordable housing in S106 agreements. But, as with so much in this bill, the government is going to specify the detail in regulations that have not yet been published.

Commentators, housing associations and councils are also concerned about plans to allow social tenants to buy their homes at a discount and to fund that discount with the sale of high value council houses.

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The bill gives the government powers to intervene in local plans that are struggling, and even when it thinks a plan is not going in the right direction. It can direct councils to ignore policies that conflict with its ambitions of building 200,000 starter homes. Planners will have a duty to provide for self-build homes.

The government plans to bring housing schemes linked to projects like HS2 into the national infrastructure planning scheme. It is to take powers to give permission in principle to suitable brownfield sites. It also will have the powers to expand this to other categories of land, perhaps even greenfield land in garden cities.