Egan's skills report says real shortage is of 'people with vision'

But the study, Skills for Sustainable Communities did find a lack of professionals trained in the broad management skills needed to oversee the construction of large sustainable communities.

Egan said: "There is no real evidence for skills shortages. This is not the thing stopping us from doing what we want to do. It's people with the vision we need – the other skills will follow."

Egan's report, published on Monday and endorsed by the ODPM, did not focus specifically on councils but did appear to contradict a report published on 8 April by the government's design watchdog, the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment. CABE's study highlighted the lack of built environment skills in councils, finding that only 49% of councils employed urban design experts.

Terry Fuller, vice-chair of the London region of the House Builders Federation, welcomed the report but said: "If you doubt there is a skills shortage, ask councils why they have to import planners from across the world."

As predicted in Housing Today last week (page 10), Egan's main recommendation to tackle the gap in "vision" was to set up a national centre for sustainable community skills. The centre was approved by the ODPM but it has not revealed how much funding it will give.

Egan's report has been criticised for not coming to concrete conclusions.

Brian Berry, deputy director of the policy unit at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, said: "One recommendation is to set up a taskforce to do the things his review was supposed to. He hasn't answered the question."