Local councils and pressure groups gave a muted welcome to Gordon Brown's plans to end the affordable housing crisis today, saying that the proof would be in how the plans were executed.

The Prime Minister used his speech to the House of Commons this afternoon to promise three million new homes by 2020, along with a speeding up of the planning system and a change in the way mortgages were drawn up to make them more affordable.

However Sir Simon Milton, the Local Government Association chairman, said Mr Brown's plans for housing development would be useless without the necessary infrastructure needed around the projects.

“The problem has never been purely land supply, but more the lack of funding for the roads, schools and hospitals which are needed to turn soulless developments into vibrant communities," he said.

“Simply upping housing numbers without infrastructure will leave people unable to access school places, secure health care or even move freely on our road and rail network."

Adam Sampson, chief executive of Shelter, the homeless housing charity, said the group looked forward to "seeing the fine details", adding: "If Gordon Brown is to fulfil his promise of housing opportunities for all, he must also ensure social housing is a key part of his plans as well as affordable and private market housing.”

Meanwhile, the Home Builders’ Federation said Mr Brown had to ensure that the planning system was speeded up. “The acid test will be whether the measures in the Queen’s Speech will speed up the planning system and unlock more land to let us build the homes this country needs,” Stewart Baseley, its executive chairman, said.

The Royal Town Planning Institute claimed that the moves did not address the key problem of house-builders getting planning permission for new developments and not going through with them. “Simply announcing them doesn’t address the failure of house builders to build on the 14,000 acres of land with planning permission still undeveloped," policy director Rynd Smith said.

Mr Brown's proposals to extend the compulsory education age from 16 to 18 were welcomed today. Dr John Brennan, chief executive of the Association of Colleges, said: "Raising the age of leaving education and training is an essential step towards equipping all young people with the skills and knowledge needed for personal success."

His proposals to create a new health watchdog - and to lower the standard of proof needed to discipline erring doctors - were given a mixed reaction.

David Rogers, chairman of the Local Government Association’s community and wellbeing board, said: “Streamlining the regulation of health and social care is a needed and necessary step towards ensuring local people get the services they need at the right time and in the right place as long as both sides are looked at proportionately.”

However Dr Hamish Meldrum, chairman of the British Medical Association, said that it was vital to ensure that doctors were not living in fear of being disciplined when their "whole career" was on the line.

“The BMA is about to enter into discussions on the whole of the Government’s proposals for medical regulation. Patient safety is paramount, but if any future system is to work it has to have the confidence of the doctors being regulated. Our members will strongly oppose any proposal to use a lesser standard of proof when their whole career is on the line.”

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