<b> </b><p><b></b>The “stocktake” of ODPM initiatives that communities minister David Miliband was brought on board to undertake is bearing some very large and juicy fruit. A merger of the Housing Corporation, English Partnerships and elements of the ODPM is now on the cards and industry insiders claim that the establishment of a new agency is a “done deal.”<br><br>The move is being prompted by the government’s obvious need to ramp up the delivery of the sustainable communities plan, both in housing growth areas and market renewal pathfinders. This is particularly urgent as the 2012 Olympics looms large on the horizon, since the regeneration “legacy” that has been promised with it was a key tenet of London’s successful bid.<br><br>Another element of the government’s largescale rethink of how housing will be delivered over the next 30 years is undoubtedly the latest household projections, which indicate that the UK’s annual housebuilding shortfall now stands at around 50,000 homes. The figures themselves hardly do justice to the situation on the ground. A whole generation of school leavers and debt-raddled graduates can hardly perceive how they will ever get onto the property ladder, even with help from those parents who can afford to offer it. <br><br>The …