Full Government ‘New Towns Statement’ with vision for new towns, 8/10/24

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The Government’s vision for a new generation of new towns was made on 8 October 2024 by Matthew Pennycook Minister of State for Housing and Planning.

UK Parliament writes:

The post-war New Towns programme was the most ambitious town-building effort ever undertaken in the UK. It transformed the lives of millions of working people by giving them affordable and well-designed homes in well-planned and beautiful surroundings. The 32 communities it created are now home to millions of people. This government will continue to invest in their regeneration, but we are also committed to bringing forward the next generation of new towns.

This government’s new towns programme will include large-scale standalone new communities, but also a larger number of urban extensions and urban regeneration schemes that will work with the grain of development in any given area. The unifying principle will be that each of the new settlements will contain at least 10,000 homes, although we expect a number to be far larger in size. Collectively, we expect they could provide hundreds of thousands more homes in the decades to come.

This government believes that sustained economic growth is the only route to improving the prosperity of our country and the living standards of working people. Getting Britain building again is integral to kickstarting that growth. Our new towns programme will not just make a significant contribution to meeting housing demand and housing need across England but will also support economic growth by releasing the productive potential of constrained towns and cities across England and ensuring our housebuilding drive is aligned with our industrial strategy and national infrastructure plans.

We have been clear we want exemplary development to be the norm not the exception. The next generation of new towns must be well-connected, well-designed, sustainable and attractive places where people want to live and have all the infrastructure, amenities and services necessary to sustain thriving communities. The ‘New Towns Code’ will ensure they deliver to the highest standards and help meet housing need by targeting rates of 40% affordable housing with a focus on genuinely affordable social rented homes.

The New Towns Taskforce

We have established an independent New Towns Taskforce to support this mission. The role of the Taskforce is to advise ministers on appropriate locations for significant housing growth. It will deliver a final shortlist of recommendations by summer 2025, but will have the freedom to share conclusions in respect of specific sites earlier if beneficial to the government’s housebuilding drive. The Taskforce will work in partnership with local leaders and communities wherever possible, but its selection of sites will be made in the national interest.

The Taskforce is chaired by Sir Michael Lyons. Sir Michael has had a distinguished career in public service including over 26 years in local government, including 17 years as the chief executive of three major UK local authorities. He has a detailed knowledge of the housing sector, not least through the Lyons Housing Review commissioned by the then Leader of the Opposition, the Rt Hon Ed Miliband MP. He was also a former Chairman of the BBC. Sir Michael is the current non-executive Chairman of the English Cities Fund – which is a joint venture with largescale regeneration developments in London, Liverpool, Plymouth, Salford and Wakefield.

Sir Michael is supported in his role by Dame Kate Barker as Deputy Chair, a former non-executive director at Taylor Wimpey. Dame Kate is experienced in working with the government on housing policy and has previously been commissioned by the government to conduct a major independent policy review of UK housing supply, and subsequently a review of land use planning. Alongside her experience in housing policy, Dame Kate also chairs the trustees of the Universities Superannuation Scheme and has previously been an external member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee.

We have appointed a further eight members of the Taskforce, who have a wealth of expertise across housing, local government, planning, housebuilding. Full details on the Taskforces membership can be found here(opens in a new tab). The Taskforce has met twice, in Milton Keynes in September and Cambridge in October. At both meetings they met with local partners to understand the key lessons learnt from previous large site delivery. They will continue their work to deliver a final report by summer 2025, and consider key matters including: the strategic case for new towns; location identification and selection; placemaking; design and standards; funding, risk and institutional investment; and unlocking delivery and innovation. We will continue to update Parliament on the work of the Taskforce.

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