Local government would have a more active role in ensuring more homes are built under long-awaited Labour Party plans unveiled today.

Proposals outlined in Sir Michael Lyons' independent housing review would mean councils would play a key role in putting together plots of land for house building and entering risk-sharing partnerships with developers and owners.

The review, which has been designed to underpin a Labour commitment to building 200,000 homes a year by the end of the decade, contains three major policies for unlocking housing supply and ensuring communities would  benefit from local developments.

These are: