Deputy prime minister John Prescott and the mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, have announced further plans to build affordable houses on public land. In a joint statement Prescott and Livingstone promised to harness the resources of the government and the Greater London Authority to provide thousands of extra homes. Prescott told the Sustainable Communities Summit in Manchester that he is negotiating with the defence secretary, Geoff Hoon, to acquire up to ten former air bases with the potential for thousands of new houses. Livingston announced that he was putting a brake on selling land under his control such as sites held by Transport for London that are expected to bring in £28million. One idea is to build on, or above, car parks at underground stations. Livingston said: “We’ve got the chance here to double what the deputy prime minister has started and have the sort of housebuilding programme we haven’t seen for 25 years.