A new era for new towns? 

COMMENT There’s no rest for a government committed to delivering 1.5m homes over the next five years: the day after the House of Commons rose for its summer recess, the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government announced it had appointed a task force to lead on identifying suitable locations for new towns. What is its mission? The task force has been given a 12-month deadline to report on sites for urban extensions and regeneration projects as well as wholly new settlements. Of course, the task force isn’t starting with a completely blank map: the chancellor of the exchequer, Rachel Reeves, in a recent speech referred to “stalled housing sites” at Liverpool Central Docks, Northstowe, Worcester Parkway and Langley Sutton Coldfield. The task force has been charged with acting in the national interest: to work with local leaders where possible, the unwritten subtext being that local opposition won’t be allowed to stymy development in the way it so often has before. In a press release during last year’s Labour conference, the party indicated that local communities would be able to have a say in “how” homes are built, but not “if” they were to be built at all. In opposition, Labour indicated there would be bidding for sites by local leaders, but the government has yet to set out the full process for designating the chosen locations. What the government has done is act quickly to lay some of the policy groundwork for new towns, proposing wording in its ongoing consultation on revisions to the National Planning Policy Framework to require local housing needs to be met in full and to give significant weight to public service infrastructure, all underpinned by renewed focus on strategic cross-boundary and cross-issue cooperation, as well as expanding on the possibilities for the release of green belt land surrounding existing towns and cities. However, the government’s enthusiasm should not be taken to mean that any old scheme will do: its upcoming New Towns Code will set an expectation for 40% affordable housing as the “gold standard aim”, tree-lined streets and guaranteed delivery of infrastructure and public services. Will the policy be enough? Almost certainly not. The post-war heyday of the new town was driven by the New Towns Act of 1946, which created powers to designate sites (for which we have to thank for Stevenage, the very first) and development corporations which took on local planning powers and were able to raise funds for delivery. The power to designate new towns still exists in section 1 of the New Towns Act 1981, and section 3 of the 1981 Act, which provides for the establishment of development corporations, was amended in 2016 and most recently in 2023 – so the legal possibilities have never gone away, even as political appetite has waxed and waned. The possibility of purchasing land at its existing use value, devoid of any value attributable to its development prospects, already exists in certain circumstances thanks (or no thanks) to the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023, but the government promised further reform in the King’s Speech, to be set out in a forthcoming Planning and Infrastructure Bill. The government wants compensation to be “fair but not excessive”, believing that reforming compensation will speed up land assembly and improve site viability to bring forward large schemes that can support the associated infrastructure costs and provide more homes for social rent. In 2014, the Town and Country Planning Association published a paper proposing a modern legal framework for new towns. It noted that a key deficiency in the existing legislative scheme was long-term arrangements for the assets owned by development corporations, and ongoing management for the benefit of the communities that came to call the new towns home. The government will need to consider how this can be remedied, so as to avoid the slow decline that has afflicted some of the earlier generation of settlements. Reasons to be cheerful? The backing of new towns by both MHCLG and the Treasury seems to be some cause for optimism. Having endured numerous false starts to the new town renaissance (eco-towns, anyone?), readers may by this point be wondering why this time will be different. Aside from the vigour with which the government has been promoting the promise of the new towns, the Treasury’s involvement signals a focus on delivering not only for housing but also for economic growth. Developers will welcome a planning programme with a grounding in economic reality and opportunity. The near-certain strategic and operational need for development corporations will also be a relief to those promoting large sites who have attempted to navigate the vagaries of local politics and under-resourced planning departments with the result being stop/start discussions and ultimately little progress. In May 2024 – pre-election, which already seems a long time ago – Angela Rayner set out her ambition to have homes delivered within new towns “within the first term of a Labour government”. The clock is ticking. What is clear is that it is going to take much longer than one term to see the promised wave of new towns through from conception to habitation. The post-war New Towns Programme managed to survive, at least for a few decades, the frequent changes of the guard that characterise our political system and drive short-termism. An early success and visible, consistent progress on delivery will be crucial to winning confidence this time around. Aline Hyde is an associate at Town Legal LLP