PODCAST: The government is set to announce that Bicester, Oxfordshire, will become the site of the second garden city to be built in the UK in 100 years.
A 13,000 home garden city in the Tory heartland county will be funded with £100m of public spending and loans.
Some £55m will go to developers in the form of government development finance, while £44m will be spent on infrastructure.
The plan, to be outlined in the chancellor’s autumn statement tomorrow, follows on from the announcement of 15,000 homes and £200m of funding to revive a garden city project in Ebbsfleet, Kent.
An official announcement on the Oxfordshire scheme is expected to be made later today, including a new rail station in Bicester.
The government has expressed a desire to build at least three garden cities, each totalling around 15,000 homes, to tackle the housing crisis.
Speaking at a pre-election breakfast event hosted by Charles Russell Speechlys, Bellenden and CGMS this morning, housing minister Brandon Lewis spoke to Estates Gazette about the plans.
He also revealed that in the coming weeks he hoped to announce measures to accelerate the planning process – particularly for small developers – as well as expansions of permitted development rights and a more general use class review.
chris.berkin@estatesgazette.com
