Another problem, says Neil Dodds, who polices a housing estate in Milton Keynes, north-west of London, is that local policing can actually increase crime or the appearance of it in the short term.

ECONOMIST: Policing

The scheme targets four growth areas - Milton Keynes and the south Midlands, Ashford in Kent, the Thames Gateway in south Essex and north Kent, and a strip running from Peterborough to London.

BBC: NEWS | UK | Planned homes 'are at flood risk'

They comprise Hull, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield and Sunderland in the north, Birmingham, Derby, Leicester and Nottingham in the Midlands, and Bristol, London, Milton Keynes and Portsmouth in the south.

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