The 19 new towns in England, the first of which were designated in 1947, have entered their final phase as national resources. The Commission for the New Towns was created in 1961 to take over, manage and subsequently sell, property of the towns as and when each was completed. CNT has been disengaging for the past 15 years but the pace has now quickened with the Government’s decision of a wind-up date of March 1998. All that will be left after this date is an agency to dispose of any remaining land assets.
In 1968 Sir Henry Wells predicted that the new towns would become the “gold mines of the future”. To an extent he has been proved right. CNT has now raised some £2.3bn from the sale of property assets. Basildon, Crawley, and Hemel Hempstead between them have raised £892m. The latest annual report*, just published, shows the remaining assets comprising some 10m sq ft of built estate worth over £1bn and more than 19,000 acres of employment and residential building land. CNT is now poised to complete the repayment to the Treasury of the taxpayers’ entire investment.
Telford in the Shropshire, has become a late-flowering success story. This new town, originally designated as Dawley in 1963 but expanded and renamed in 1968, has recently been attracting significant new investment. Last year 22 new companies moved into Telford, of which five were from overseas. This brought the total number of overseas companies in Telford to 132, from 18 different countries of origin. Including the 22 new arrivals, 60 different companies shared in the creation of 1,200 new jobs in Telford. The town has attracted the majority of companies from Taiwan who decide to locate in the UK. It has also welcomed its 21st Japanese company when Hoshizaki announced its intention to create its western European manufacturing base in the town.
Marketing is seen by CNT as a key function. The main aim is to add to the 1,300 overseas companies already established in the new towns through “an aggressive and planned effort”. CNT has been pursuing a programme of overseas delegations to North America, the Far East and Europe and has received a large number of visitors from various parts of the world. CNT chairman Sir Neil Shields, who retires in November after 13 years, believes that, in order to carry out the sales task in the face of intense competition, “we must keep up the pressure by unremitting promotion and personal contact”.
* CNT annual report and accounts 1993-94. Commission for the New Towns, Glen House, Stag Place, London SW1.
