Government receives more than 100 submissions for New Towns as it works on planning reform

The New Homes Accelerator (NHA) is a collaboration between the government, Homes England and the Greater London Authority, working with local authorities, developers and other key stakeholders. It aims to unblock the delivery of housing developments that are not progressing as quickly as they could be.

 

According to the MHCLG, the NHA programme has successfully unblocked 20,000 new homes.

 

Angela Rayner, the housing secretary and deputy prime minister, said: “I will not run away from the tough choices to fix the housing crisis we inherited that has left thousands of families on housing waiting lists, allowed homelessness to spiral out of control, and stopped an entire generation from picking up the keys to their first home.  

 

“While our vision for the next generation of New Towns is setting the stage for a housebuilding revolution in the years to come, urgent action is needed now to build the homes and infrastructure that our local communities are crying out for.

 

“That’s why our New Homes Accelerator is working at pace to find solutions and remove blockages in the system, executing long-lasting solutions to get spades in the ground.”

 

New Towns Taskforce

 

The New Towns Taskforce is now around halfway through the 12 months allocated by MHCLG ministers to develop recommendations for the government.

 

In its first interim update since being set up, the taskforce provided information on its progress in developing recommendations for a new generation of New Towns and its vision for them.

 

London, the South East, South West and East received the largest number of submissions, but multiple proposals were received from every region of England.

 

The taskforce said the majority of the sites submitted were urban extensions to towns or cities, with a smaller number of proposals for new standalone settlements.

 

“We are greatly encouraged by the appetite and desire to invest in the future of the country through this ‘next generation’ of New Towns,” the taskforce said in the update.

 

Over the coming months, the taskforce will be working through “priority” policy issues.

 

These include the approach to affordable housing in New Towns and tenure mix, and exploring the powers, structures and financial models needed to achieve delivery, such as the impact of any upcoming reforms.

 

Other priority policy issues include exploring the terms of land acquisition and how to define the boundaries of New Towns and capture land value.

 

“The responses have added to the department’s and Homes England’s existing knowledge about potential sites and helped to highlight the opportunities and the challenges of delivering new homes at pace and at scale.

 

“The responses to the call for evidence will support the taskforce’s work going forward, and demonstrate the significant enthusiasm across the country to benefit from the distinct offer of this programme.”

 

The taskforce said the next generation of New Towns will provide a “diverse range of high-quality” housing with a range of housing types, including affordable housing and homes for social rent.

 

The update said there will be a “clear long-term vision” for each town and the New Towns will be set up through community engagement.

 

It said the New Towns will provide social infrastructure and job creation and be well connected to transport links.

 

The taskforce said the next stage of its work will focus on exploring locations, focusing on areas “ripe for early intervention as part of a first initial wave”, alongside the longer-term pipeline.

“The taskforce is developing its recommendations alongside the government’s 10-year infrastructure plan and wider industrial strategy and is working closely with other government departments who will be crucial for the success of New Towns implementation,” the update said.

 

The taskforce will also be running a series of events to understand what the public thinks the core components of New Towns should be.

 

By this summer, the taskforce will submit a final report to MHCLG ministers. This will include a list of potential locations and wider recommendations on the funding and delivery of New Towns.

 

Planning reform

 

In its response to a call for evidence, the NHA team said this process, coupled with ongoing engagement with stakeholders, had identified 725 developments of more than 500 homes, and outlined barriers to delivery and opportunities for acceleration.

 

Around half were aiming to deliver more than 1,500 new homes.

 

“This level of response has surpassed expectations, highlighting the value of developing a better understanding of the barriers facing large-scale developments,” the NHA team said in the letter.

 

The MHCLG said the call for evidence had identified “both systemic problems” with the planning and development process and site-specific issues.

 

Systemic issues include infrastructure delivery, utilities provision and environmental factors, as well as the role of statutory consultees and other organisations involved in the development process.

 

The letter said: “MHCLG has begun to work with relevant bodies to further understand the causes of these issues and consider any changes that can accelerate delivery. Many sites facing those systemic issues will benefit from this work indirectly.”

 

According to the update, the MHCLG and Homes England are working together to assess what support is possible for specific sites, and where it is best directed to support the government’s ambition to deliver 1.5 million homes during this parliamentary term.

 

The government said it was prioritising larger sites with the potential to deliver 1,500 homes in or before 2029 in the first instance.

 

The programme may look to support smaller developments where it makes sense to do so, but the MHCLG is clear that larger sites which can contribute to the 1.5-million ambition were the priority, the department added.

 

The MHCLG added elsewhere that house builders and local councils have put forward over 350 housing development sites stuck in the system under the previous government that together could unlock around 700,000 new homes.

 

Around a quarter of sites submitted are already receiving government attention since the call for evidence closed in October.

 

Separately, the government said that, in response to sector concerns on pinch points, it was working to help the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) ensure greater timeliness and efficiency when new tall buildings are signed off, to provide more homes for more people.

 

This work will be boosted by new government funding. This includes giving the BSR £2m to continue to improve the processing for new-build applications and providing over £3m in grants for local councils to bolster planning capacity.

 

Elsewhere, the government has announced further planning reform with the launch of four working papers.

 

These include a paper proposing measures that could be taken to streamline the consenting process for national infrastructure and enable faster decision-making, and a paper that proposes options for a form of ‘brownfield passport’.

 

This brownfield passport would be more specific about the development that should be regarded as acceptable on such sites, with the default answer to suitable proposals being a straightforward “yes”.

 

The other working papers propose changes to planning committees in England that would support the plan-led system, and a new approach which uses funding from development to deliver environmental improvements.