Attempts to ease the pain of beleaguered first-time buyers will intensify on Thursday with the launch of a centre that will press planners to make affordability a criterion for all new developments.

The National Housing and Planning Advice Unit is not the catchiest of names and the organisation has an unpronounceable acronym. But Stephen Nickell, the distinguished economics professor and its chairman, hopes the advice it will provide to local authorities and other public bodies overseeing housing developments will change the mindset of public sector planners.