Are “New Towns” the answer?

Let’s start with the question first? How big is the housing crisis really? Well, it is an estimated shortfall of 4.3 million homes. But what does 4.3 million homes look like? Well, it is the equivalent of 36 new Milton Keyneses. Yes, that’s quite scary… we have fallen terribly behind and with the best will in the world, Keir Starmer and Labour are going to have to really knuckle down to even make a dent in that. 

We are currently promoting a New Town on behalf of a consortium and it is really interesting to forensically examine all the ingredients and then carefully construct the vision of how this new town is going to function and get the support of the local politicians and people. 

There are plenty of practicalities to think of… location - no point building it on Dartmoor, it needs to be near other settlements to function. Transport - they are intrinsically car reliant and for the 21st century they need to be near transport infrastructure like HS2 or another railway with capacity. Environment - they need to interact with the green fields around them and have a 10% BNG. Sustainability - they need to stand alone but also function with what is around them and then you have to think about energy, water, sewage, refuse etc. etc. Then you get to the land assembly… and that could take years and £millions to CPO the land… and then there is the small matter of getting planning permission… 

So, if you want to do a new town, you are going to need nerves of steel and get the right political support (start talking to the right people NOW). But who are the elusive “right people”? Labour is planning to bring back regional planning powers and I do believe new towns will be a big part of regional planning. (Call me if you want to know more).

As much as I would like to be the Mayor of Henryville (a new town just outside the M25) you can see, there is no way we’re going to get to the 36 Milton Keyneses any time soon… we need to start planning them and working them up in detail and get them on the political agenda… but delivery… it’s going to be our kids who build them and live in them. 

In the meantime, we need to build 300k homes a year to try and catch up on the housing shortage, so when planning committees reject applications against officers recommendation for approval on spurious grounds you have to ask yourself, “Councillor, what are you doing in politics?” You have a duty to help the future generations to have a home, it is a basic right and you are failing the future generations. Shame on you! 

See you all in Henryville soon (No NIMBYs allowed) 

Henry