GVA has identified 40 sites that could deliver up to 250,000 new homes in the South of England in support of the government’s garden cities and suburbs agenda.
According to GVA’s research, there are two main corridors of large-scale residential development potential. These run along the M11/A14 from the east of London to Cambridge and from Cambridge to Oxford.
Seven local authorities have proposals or allocations for more than 10,000 new homes through urban extension sites.
However, existing challenges mean that garden cities and suburb could be a pipe dream, GVA warns.
The largest single cause for delay in delivery is infrastructure costs followed by the local housing market, the planning process and political opposition.
The report calls for a new form of public sector funding guarantee for infrastructure, greater stability in the planning system, simplified public funding streams and a more proactive management role from the public sector.
Gerry Hughes, senior director at GVA, said: “A definitive position needs to be taken by government on facilitating and enabling these larger schemes, and indeed garden cities, if they are to be nothing more than a pipe dream.
“In my view this means giving the HCA a clear delivery mandate to make garden cities happen in chosen locations and freeing up the log jam of large housing schemes that our work has demonstrated.
“Bashing the planning system has been a diversionary tactic for long enough. Planning is not the principal problem. The government has to find a way of enabling the necessary funding of infrastructure either by direct public sector funding or by acting as funding guarantor to de-risk delivery.”
annabel.dixon@estatesgazette.com
