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was, only a few weeks ago, being welcomed by the then Labour MP for Norwich South, Charles Clarke.

How different things are now.

Eric Pickles' flat vowels announced yesterday: "It's over. It's not going to happen. We'll take the necessary measures to stop it. My message is very clear - to chief officers and to councillors - do not waste the public's money by spending any more on this."

That was just one of the policy pronouncements from the coalition government.

Some flesh on the bones of sentiments expressed over big society, small government and austerity.

So it looks like the proposals for ecotowns, like outside Norwich, will now be vetoed.

Housing growth will now be determined locally.

Norwich City Councillor and former Labour member of the now defunct regional assembly, Steve Morphew warns: "there's an awful lot of councils out there who won't want any growth or any new housing at all. So we're likley to find a housing shortage, or infrastructure problems, which will be caused by by having no regional directional guidance."

Other changes include a council tax freeze and there's a question mark over a new 24 million pound control centre for the new regional fire service In near Cambridge. The new government says it's against merging the county forces but the implacable Mr Pickles says he hasn't made a final decision.

The amount of detail in the document, just nine days into a new administration, is impressive.

Nevertheless, much of it is a turning back of the clock to the way things were before.

There's nothing inherently wrong with that, as long as it works. The proof of the pudding will be in whether the housing waiting lists diminish in the future.

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