Labour should build 12 new towns in England that are not car-dependent or built on flood plains, a former government adviser has said in a report.
A detailed plan for a dozen new towns, proposed by thinktanks Britain Remade and Create Streets, would mean 550,000 well-designed and appropriately located homes. The new homes would boost the economy by £13-28bn annually by improving access to high-paying jobs in well-connected cities, according to the report.
The new towns should include green places lined with gardens, garden squares, street trees and parks; they should be richly layered with trees and gardens, and green spaces should be either safely private or clearly public, not in-between.
Recent attempts to build new settlements have been “depressing, unsustainable and stupid” because of their sprawl and reliance on cars, said Nicholas Boys Smith, the founder of Create Streets and former government adviser. New towns should follow
the principle of “gentle density”, which means that they avoid sprawl and people can easily walk to shops, work and amenities.
They should also not be built on national landscapes, flood plains, or sites of special scientific interest, and should have good public transport links. It calls for the developments to be mixed use and to end the trend of building housing estates from which people have to drive in a car to the industrial estate and shopping centres.
“We need to make sure that our daily needs are all within close proximity to where we live. This allows more people to walk, or cycle with pleasure more of the time. It’s what planners call ‘modal shift’.This is the freedom to get around, whether for work, leisure, shopping or school, without the need to rely on a car or public transport.”
The authors identified towns in places with high housing demand and are well connected with existing and planned infrastructure including public transport. All of the new towns are well connected to England’s productive cities.
Boys Smith said: “All our government-led attempts to create new towns and settlements over the last 60 years have basically failed.
“Too few homes, too far apart and too slowly built. No real town centres, little walkability and very little public transport. Ugly civic centres that only a mother could love. No pull. On the few occasions that we’ve actually built something, they have not been towns but sprawling suburbs. ‘Car parks beside stations’ is the model not ‘new towns beside stations’. It is depressing, unsustainable and stupid.
“We need to be more ambitious for what we create. Why should new towns be uglier and worse than the old? Ten years on I don’t want to be discussing how yet another round of government-led new settlements failed. This paper suggests how the government’s important and wise programme can avoid that fate.”
This comes as Labour faces pressure to implement the Future Homes Standard in full. This would would mean new homes have to be properly insulated, and have heat pumps and solar panels installed to reduce carbon emissions and save money on heating.
Sam Richards, CEO of Britain Remade, said: “By building at gentle densities, not only can more homes be built on less land, but emissions can also be reduced. People living in cities emit 50% less carbon than those who live outside them.”
Proposed new towns
● Greater Cambridge: an expansion to the city to unlock more homes, laboratory space and innovation.
● Tempsford, Bedfordshire: a well-connected new town making the most of new infrastructure with excellent access to Cambridge, Oxford, and central London.
● Winslow, Buckinghamshire: an opportunity to “mirror” the town across the newly restored East West Rail that runs to Oxford and Milton Keynes.
● Cheddington, Buckinghamshire: a new town built along the west coast mainline, which will benefit from increased capacity once HS2 opens.
● Salfords, Surrey: this new town could relieve the housing crisis in Brighton and London while helping fund upgrades to the nearby Brighton mainline and the M23.
● Greater Oxford: an expansion to the city to unlock more homes, laboratory space and innovation.
● Iver, Buckinghamshire: plenty of land next to two Elizabeth Line stations.
● Hatfield Peverel, Essex: a new town “mirrored” across the railway line, which is well served by the A12 and the east coast mainline.
● Bristol Extension: help to alleviate the worst housing crisis outside the south east by building on one of the most restrictive green belts in the UK.
● Chippenham, Wiltshire: organically extend the market town to its east with a new gentle density expansion.
● York: extend the city to its ring road, helping to ease the worst housing shortage in the north.
● Arden Cross (Birmingham Interchange): build a new town next to the new HS2 station, Birmingham airport, the M42, A45, and a potential tram extension to Birmingham centre.