Could it be a New Future for New Towns?

With the General Election just two days away, DHA Planning’s Mark Bewsey and Natalie May have been looking into a potential renewed drive for New Towns to contribute towards England’s strategic housing requirements.

 

78 years ago, the 1946 New Towns Act was introduced as a transformative response to the severe housing shortages and urban congestion that plagued the UK following World War II. The Act facilitated the creation of 32 New Towns such as Crawley, Milton Keynes and Stevenage, with the aim to create well-integrated, socially balanced communities.

 

Whilst the New Towns are considered to vary considerably in terms of success, they are established places which provide homes for over 2.8 million people, largely as self-sufficient communities including employment, retail, health, education and other infrastructure provision.  Indeed, DHA’s Gatwick office is located within the commercial and industrial heartland of the Crawley New Town, which was named as Manor Royal in 1950.  

 

After years in which England has built too few houses to meet demand, major political parties are now revisiting the principles of New Towns as a framework for addressing housing shortages.  Whilst the UK government has a national housing target of delivering 300,000 new homes in England per year, this has not been met since 1977 - 47 years ago. The number of planning applications submitted, and permissions granted is also at its lowest in 20 years, further slowing the process of delivering housing.

 

The different initiatives for new settlements proposed by the three main political parties are explored below:

 

Labour would set an annual housing target of 300,000 new homes a year. Labour has recently announced its plan for a ‘New Towns Code’ to set the standard for large new developments. This would include a “gold standard target” of 40% affordable homes, robust design codes that fit in with nearby areas, high density housing with good links to town and city centres, and access to nature and parks. Labour’s wider housing policy was reportedly inspired from the 1945 Labour Government. Whilst locations of these New Towns have not been released, Angela Rayner states that they would be “inspired by garden suburbs like Hale in Manchester, Roundhay in Leeds and the 120-year-old garden city project of Ebenezer Howard, which delivered the Letchworth and Welwyn model communities in Hertfordshire”. The examples of Hale and Roundhay suggest some will be extensions to existing major settlements, while the garden city model would suggest some will be standalone towns.

 

The Liberal Democrats want to deliver 380,000 homes a year, a level which was last achieved in 1968. They also have an overall target of 150,000 new social homes a year, which would require a significant uplift from the current delivery to the tune of approximately 250%. Their manifesto refers to “new garden cities and community-led development of cities and towns” and promises to create 10 new garden cities. No additional information has been released for this. 

 

The Conservatives are promising 320,000 new houses a year. They have not specifically mentioned new settlements within their manifesto, although as recently as 2022 the Government announced the Garden Communities programme with funding of £15 million to support the delivery of thousands of new homes across England. The programme aims to deliver up to 16,000 homes per year from 2025, across 43 towns and villages.

 

The recognition of the New Towns Act as a tool to address the housing crisis symbolises its enduring relevance and adaptability. Whilst each party approaches the housing crisis with different ideas and priorities, the shared consideration of New Towns/Garden Communities reflects a common goal in creating vibrant, sustainable communities that meet the housing needs of the present and future generations.

 

Once a new Government has been established, it will be interesting to see how quickly they will look to implement their housing policies and how central New Towns will be to this.  What is clear, is that whilst New Towns should be considered as an admirable way to provide for the country’s housing, economic and infrastructure needs in a sustainable and planned manner, new settlements cannot be relied upon to deliver housing for a significant number of years, certainly not within the first parliamentary period and therefore they are not the answer to address the current critical housing crisis.

 

We are also acutely aware of recent false dawns and failed initiatives such as Labour’s failed Eco-towns programme announced in 2007, and 10 years later the Conservatives’ Garden Villages scheme.  More recently, Local Planning Authorities such as Tandridge, Tunbridge Wells, Uttlesford and Wokingham have been forced to abandon proposals for new settlements as part of emerging Local Plans, which only goes to highlight the complexities and significant challenges associated with planning for growth in this way.

 

For further information on this subject, please do not hesitate to contact Mark Bewsey or Natalie May.