Government unveils plans for next generation of new towns
February 13, 2025
- Over 100 sites across England have come forward to be considered for next generation of new towns
- Government on track to create beautiful communities, provide affordable homes, and deliver much needed infrastructure, including schools and nurseries, GP surgeries, and bus routes
- By taking on the blockers, 20,000 homes, along with new schools and health facilities, will move forward following government action, and we will now turn to unblock the remaining 700,000 homes across 350 sites
- Comes as government rolls out major planning reforms to sweep away the blockers and push through its housebuilding agenda as part of the Plan for Change
Nathan Emerson, CEO of Propertymark comments,
“Propertymark welcomes the proposal to deliver housing in the format of building new towns across England. We look forward to hearing further details on precise locations, as they must fully enhance and complement the regions where they will be built.
“It is encouraging to hear that sustaining infrastructure, such as education and health facilities, will be closely integrated within the master plan for each proposed town, as all too often sizable developments can be built without reasonable supporting arrangements.
“The UK Government must work closely with key stakeholders to ensure each new town brings a diverse mix of properties, all capable of delivering the right combination of homes to meet the needs of household and age demographic requirements in the areas they will be placed.”
Richard Beresford, Chief Executive of the National Federation of Builders (NFB), said:
“New Towns are key to solving the housing crisis as they can set affordable price points for homes, attract businesses with the promise of strategic employment land, and build all things a community needs to ensure housing and infrastructure are not competing for limited land availability.
The Government should be commended for taking on the NIMBYs to deliver new towns, and it will greatly help them toward their 1.5m home target and delivery of sustainable and strategic growth.”
Rico Wojtulewicz, Head of Policy at the NFB, said:
“New Towns are an opportunity to support SMEs by allocating sites specifically for them, which is important for housing diversification and because 73% of construction apprentices are trained by SMEs, who typically employ within 20 miles of their head offices. This makes SMEs key to reducing a reliance on immigrant labour and ensuring people have good careers.
Supporting SMEs through new town planning would also rectify some of the criticisms made by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) about the planning system being anti-competitive and so reducing the quality and variety of new homes, while also being the reason SME market share continues to drop.”
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