New study outlines bold vision for New Towns in the UK
The UK needs well planned, large scale developments rather than a few houses being built here and there with the obvious solution being the creations of a new generation of garden cities, it is claimed.
In a landmark document, housing and planning charity the Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA), outlines how the UK can deliver the beautiful, inclusive and sustainable communities of the future.
The report, New Towns Act 2015?, has taken the phenomenally successful New Town Development Corporation model that created 32 new towns after the Second World War which now home over two million people, and updated it for the 21st Century.
The report says that there is clear consensus that the nation is suffering from a major housing crisis. Building a few new houses here and there is not going to be enough, it adds and the RCPA is backing a campaign for a new generation of garden cities as part of the solution.
The report aims to show how the nation can rediscover its bold and visionary history in creating beautiful new places with affordable homes and where people wish to live and work.
‘Over the last two years the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and the Leader of the Labour Party have all articulated their support for a new generation of garden cities as part of the solution to the nation's housing crisis. However, the question of how to deliver high quality and comprehensively planned new communities, which can take over 30 years to deliver and transcend electoral cycles, has not yet been addressed,’ said Hugh Ellis, TCPA head of policy.
‘This why the TCPA wants to show how the development corporation model, which was extraordinarily successful in delivering homes and communities after the second world war, can be updated to make it more democratically accountable and ensure that the vision of high quality, beautiful and inclusive places is achieved,’ he explained.
‘The trick will be to take the world famous and successful garden city principles, which created places like Letchworth and Welwyn Garden City, and place them at the heart of the staggeringly successful development corporation delivery model,’ he added.
The objective of the report is to identify the major issues which a future government would need to address in order to make the New Towns legislation fit for purpose. It is intended to provoke a positive debate about the best way to secure high-quality housing growth based on the success of the British New Towns.
‘New settlements are a vital component of our response to the housing crisis, allowing for cost effective and sustainable growth. The New Towns Act offers a powerful foundation for the delivery of the kinds of high quality inclusive places that will meet our housing needs in the long term,’ the report points out.
‘This foundation is based on a specific approach to the designation of land and the creation of New Town Development Corporations to drive effective delivery. The basic architecture of the New Towns legislation remains in force and could, in principle, be used tomorrow,’ it adds.
However, this document also concludes that the current legislation is in need of modernisation to ensure that Development Corporations have the visionary purpose and obligations to balance their extensive powers.
These changes would include the creation of transparent legal objectives for Development Corporations, including sustainable development, climate change and social inclusion along with enhanced requirements for participation by the public in the design and delivery of the New Town.
There would also be a need for ensuring partnership working with the established local authorities in the area in which the New Town is located and ensuring the timely handover of the New Town's assets such as land, property, and finance, to the local authorities and to other successor bodies to hold and manage those assets in perpetuity for the benefit of the community.
In addition to the modernisation of the law, the development of New Towns would require important policy support and a detailed financial model, both of which the TCPA is currently developing. Significant policy challenges remain, primarily around the balance between centrally designated New Town sites and local consensus.
‘Given the scale of the housing crisis we cannot meet our current and future housing needs on a plot by plot basis. This is why in the run up to the 2015 election the TCPA will be calling for all three major political parties to make a manifesto commitment to delivering beautiful, well designed and inclusive new communities with affordable homes and new jobs in places people wish to live and work,’ said Ellis.
‘We need brave political leadership and we hope that this report will help show central and local government how a step change in delivery can be achieved, working in partnership with the private sector, without losing focus on people and quality,’ he added.