New towns programme is chance to ‘get it right this time’ – report

A study into a plan to build up to a dozen new towns has urged the government to “retake control of the narrative” and set out a
a clear and ambitious vision for its programme.

The “Laying the Foundations” report, issued by the House of Lords’ Built Environment Committee, lays out 11 recommendations for the administration, as it plans to build up to 12 new towns as part of a long-term commitment which will help to deliver 1.5m new homes before the end of the current parliament.

The government’s New Towns Task Force was set up to oversee strategy for a new wave of new towns in September 2024, and delivered its initial report in February. In September, the task force recommended 12 preferred locations for new communities of “at least” 10,000 homes – including a town of for an initial 24,000 people near Worcestershire Parkway station in Wychavon.

Now, a new report which emerged from the House of Lords this weekend (25 October) has urged the government to create a “compelling national vision” for how the new planned towns should look and function.

The study by the Built Environment Committee, led by Lord Gascoigne, sets out how it believes the government can build on the post-war building programme which led to the development of successful new towns such as Telford and Milton Keynes, and avoid the failures of subsequent governments – such as the 14 “Garden Cities” proposed in 2017, which ultimately failed to deliver large scale development.

However, it also warns that significantly less public money is available to fund large-scale building programmes than in the 1960’s era, adding that the majority of finance for the scheme would come from the private sector.

“The programme urgently needs a clear, engaging vision that explains what these new towns are for, what they are designed to achieve and why they matter,” said the report.

“The government must set this vision for both the entire programme and for each individual project, and consistently communicate it to secure investor, local authority, and public support for the programme.”

The report also urges the government to set out how the new towns would deliver more than numerical housing targets, adding that they should be used to drive “inclusive” growth, improve life chances, and act as “exemplars for contemporary urban design”.

A further nine recommendations laid out in the report include adopting an infrastructure-first approach to developing masterplans for the new communities, urging for towns to be built around robust proposals for transport, utilities, and social infrastructure.

Meanwhile, development corporations, such as the new Mayoral Development Corporation currently being created by the West Midlands Combined Authority Mayor, Richard Parker, should be used as the default method for getting the new towns built, the committee says.

Lord Gascoigne said the government’s new towns programme was a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to build “genuinely affordable, high-quality homes” and to create communities where people want to live.

“Public support is fundamental to the success of the programme. The government needs to work hard, day in and day out, to articulate a clear and ambitious vision for its programme,” he said.

“A key element of this must be to inspire developers and planning authorities to use the new towns as a model for future development.

“But a vision alone will not be enough to get these new towns built: the government needs to show that it has the grip necessary to drive the programme forward and make it happen.

“Now that the New Towns Taskforce has published its shortlist of locations for 12 new towns the government needs to set out, in explicit terms, how it is planning to fund and deliver them.”

The full list of recommendations can be found in the report, published on the House of Lords website over the weekend.