Miller Group chief ececutive Keith Miller has forecast that just over 75,000 new homes will be completed this year, compared with 160,000 last year and next year’s total will be even lower.

Speaking at a meeting earlier this week of the Construction Council - The new CBI superbody consistsing of 24 top bosses from all sectors of the construction industry - leading executives gave warning that tens of thousands of jobs were disappearing, with credit still in short supply, despite the government’s bank rescue package last month.

They called on the government to bring forward its capital spending programme on the Olympics, schools, transport infrastructure and urban regeneration – and to focus on work that could start immediately, rather than longer-term projects.

In Brighton & Hove although work continues on some small scale projects and the New England Quarter (the old Station Goodsyard site) including the ground breaking One Brighton development (see earlier story), the large scale developments that could provide hundreds of homes e.g. King Alfred and Brighton Marina, are under review and unlikely to proceed for at least two years.