Plans for a programme of ‘new towns’ have been announced by the government under its housebuilding targets.

Each new community will have at least 10,000 new homes with infrastructure and public services as well as 40% affordable housing.

The government has appointed an independent New Towns Taskforce to progress the project and present a final shortlist of recommendations on appropriate locations to ministers within 12 months.

They will work with mayors, local leaders and communities to advise on the right places for new towns.

As well as entirely new settlements, the initiative will also involve largescale urban extensions to existing communities.

The government says that they will be governed by a New Towns Code. This will include a set of rules that developers will have to meet to make sure new towns are ‘well-connected, well-designed, sustainable and attractive places where people want to live’.

It will also cover infrastructure, public services such as GP surgeries and schools, affordable housing, transport links and green spaces.

Housing expert Sir Michael Lyons has been appointed as chair of the taskforce, supported by deputy chair Dame Kate Barker.

Housing, Communities and Local Government Secretary Angela Rayner announced details of the taskforce earlier this week.

Similar initiatives of the past have included ‘garden cities’ such as Letchworth and Welwyn Garden City and successive waves of new towns in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.

The government has set a mandatory target for the construction of 370,000 new homes annually over the next five years to create 1.5 million properties to boost housing supply.

Please contact us to find out more about how the new planning and housing policies will affect your plans or project.