Construction of new towns is planned to start at three sites before the next general election takes place by 2029 at the latest.
Some seven sites have been given the green light by the government. They are: Tempsford; Leeds South Bank; Crews Hill and Chase Park; Manchester Victoria North; Thamesmead; Brabazon and West Innovation Arc as well as a site in Milton Keynes.
Plans to make six other areas a ‘new town’ have been dropped, including a Cheshire proposal that led to protests outside the council.
Josh Risso-Gill, partner in the planning, infrastructure & environment team of international law firm Charles Russell Speechlys, said: “Both nationally and in the capitol the Government is presiding over a generational low point in housing starts, with 342,100 new homes against its target of 1.5 million this Parliament. So the timing of its new towns announcement is unsurprising with the crucial imminent local elections.
“In London, where funding and development costs has virtually stopped housebuilding, two new ‘towns’ are set to deliver 36,000 new homes – eventually. The reduction to seven from the original list of twelve new towns shows the challenges of building at scale in the UK. 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.
“For example, despite being allocated as a new settlement for more than 10,000 new homes in the local plan some years ago, the Chelmsford Garden Community remains unbuilt. For the government to claim that three of the new town projects will be underway by 2029 seems wildly optimistic.”
The new towns scheme was unveiled in 2023, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer pledging that the programme will deliver the “next generation of new towns”, echoing those built by former Labour PM Clement Atlee after World War Two.
The taskforce originally recommended 12 locations.
However locals in the Cheshire village of Adlington protested amid news it could be expanded into a town, with the council voting to oppose the plans.
Despite talk of ‘new towns’, the scheme generally focuses expanding and regenerating existing areas.
