Morning Briefing: Budget plea for £7bn infrastructure fund

In the news

It’s less than a week until the Autumn Budget and the last-minute pleas for cash are ramping up.

The Guardian reports that the National Infrastructure Commission has urged the chancellor to earmark £7bn to double the rate of housebuilding in central England, with new towns built between Oxford and Milton Keynes and Bedford and Cambridge.

Theresa May yesterday pledged to take “personal charge” of trying to fix the housing crisis, which was widely covered by national news.

Sajid Javid laid down a challenge to baby boomers yesterday, which has been leapt on by many including the Daily Mail. The communities secretary said in a speech that the older generations had “no understanding” about the housing crisis and are “not facing up to the reality”, according to the publication.

Our story on Mr Javid’s speech leads on his threat to 15 councils to intervene if they do not make faster progress with developing a local plan.

Proposals for thousands of new homes in Leeds could be shelved, the Yorkshire Evening Post reports. The council had put forward plans to deliver 66,000 homes across the city by 2028. But this has now been reduced to 42,000, with a list of green belt sites that are exempt from development published by the council.