The Government has chosen seven locations for ‘new towns’ across the UK, having reduced down the total from the original 12 recommended locations.
The Ministry Of Housing pledged “well-connected new communities with homes, jobs, schools, green space and transport links planned from the start.” Each proposed location is “expected to deliver at least 10,000 homes, with several delivering 40,000 or more in the decades to come.” The Government in 2025 pledged to build three of the projects during the current Parliament.
The proposed schemes include Tempsford, Bedfordshire — “up to 40,000” homes built around a new “east west rail station,” and “up to 21,000” homes at Crews Hill and Chase Park, Enfield, and “up to 20,000” homes at Leeds South Bank, West Yorkshire.
There will also be “at least 15,000 homes regenerating the heart of Greater Manchester,” at Manchester Victoria North, and a similar target at Thamesmead, Greenwich, “unlocking inaccessible riverside land, enabled by the planned DLR extension.”
In addition, at the Brabazon and the West Innovation Arc, South Gloucestershire, there will be up to 40,000 homes “at the heart of a world-class research and advanced engineering economy”. And finally, Milton Keynes’ ‘renewed town’ vision will “expand the city by around 40,000 homes and reinvigorate the centre with a new local transport system”.
The new towns will be designed “with neighbourhoods that people can easily get around without a car, shared green spaces and vibrant high streets.” Housing Secretary Steve Reed said: “We’re planning whole communities with homes, jobs, transport links, and green spaces designed together — so we can give families the security and opportunities they deserve.”
The Government has appointed four interim advisers to support the New Towns Unit set up last year, including Emma Cariaga, Chief Operating Officer of British Land. Also on the panel are Lyn Garner, former Chief Executive of the London Legacy Development Corporation, Ian Piper, former Chief Executive of the Ebbsfleet Development Corporation, and David Rudlin, principal author of the UK Government’s National Model Design Code.
The Government has also confirmed “additional support worth up to £400m over the next decade for subsidised products.” This will enable both the National Housing Bank and regional Mayors to issue loans and investments at lower interest rates and unlock housebuilding across the country.”
The remaining six new town locations — Adlington, Heyford Park, Marlcombe (East Devon), Plymouth, South Barking and Wychavon Town — “will not be taken forward at this stage,” said the Ministry of Housing, but are “deemed to be credible development opportunities and may continue to be supported through existing housing programmes.”
The Government statement said that in order to “ensure that new towns are built in a holistic way, that meets communities’ growing needs, it is taking a cross-government approach to ensure the utilities, health, education, and digital infrastructure to underpin new towns from the outset.”