The government has reduced the number of proposed new towns in a list first issued last year from 12 to seven.
Each location is expected to see at least 10,000 homes being built, with many delivering 40,000 or more in the decades to come, the government said.
The new list includes Tempsford in Bedfordshire, Crews Hill and Chase Park in Enfield, Leeds South Bank in West Yorkshire, Victoria North in Greater Manchester, Thamesmead in Greenwich, Brabazon and the West Innovation Arc in South Gloucestershire and Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire.
Sites originally proposed in Plymouth, Adlington in Cheshire, Heyford Park in Oxfordshire, Marlcombe in East Devon and Worcestershire Parkway, Wychavon have now dropped off the list. The government said the five sites will not be developed into new towns for the time being, but are “deemed to be credible development opportunities and may continue to be supported through existing housing programmes”.
The original 12 sites were chosen in September last year, following recommendations from the New Towns Taskforce led by Sir Michael Lyons and Dame Kate Barker, and were proposed at the Labour Party conference in 2023 before it took office.
It sparked widespread local objections and protests. A petition signed by almost 19,000 people was presented to parliament in December by Macclesfield’s Labour MP Tim Roca, urging the government to back away from plans for a new town in Adlington.
On Monday (23 March), the government said the new towns will create “affordable and balanced communities” and will include schools, heath centres and other community infrastructure.
The government has appointed four interim advisers to support the New Towns Unit: Lyn Garner, former chief executive of the London Legacy Development Corporation, Ian Piper, former chief executive of the Ebbsfleet Development Corporation, Emma Cariaga, chief operating officer of British Land, and David Rudlin, founding principal of Rudlin & Co and principal author of the government’s National Model Design Code.
Welcoming the announcement of the seven new towns, Paul Rickard, chief executive of Pocket Living, said the proposals would support SME housebuilders.
“It is also an opportunity to rethink housing needs and deliver a range of new housing best placed to support economic growth,” he added.
Josh Risso-Gill, partner in the planning, infrastructure and environment team of international law firm Charles Russell Speechlys, said the announcement showed the challenges the government is facing.
“The reduction to seven from the original list of 12 new towns shows the challenges of building at scale in the UK,” he told Construction News.
“The government has to succeed with the new homes programme if it is to have any chance of hitting its 1.5 million target. But the challenges are significant, particularly the procurement and funding of adequate infrastructure, meeting increasingly stringent environmental and biodiversity standards and assembling the land for development.”
As part of the financial backing for the new towns, the government also confirmed the launch of the National Housing Bank on 1 April, which will be backed with £16bn and will aim to deliver over 500,000 new homes.
In addition, an extra £400m of support will be provided over the next 10 years for subsidised products, which will enable both the National Housing Bank and regional mayors to provide loans and investments at lower interest rates.
Chaired by Peter Vernon, former group executive director of Grosvenor, and with Homes England’s chief investment officer Simon Century as its chief executive, the National Housing Bank aims to unlock more than £53bn of private investment and “provide developers with more financial stability and certainty to support the delivery of over half a million new homes”, the government said.
“From day one, we’ll use deep expertise to back innovative, large-scale delivery – accelerating the supply of high-quality affordable homes and thriving places people want to live,” Century added.
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Matthew Davies