Abridged New Towns submission...

6. What should be the respective roles and responsibilities of local and regional government in the delivery of new towns?

Combined Authorities (CAs) should take the lead role in the delivery of new towns. This is because:

·        The scale of the new towns is such that they are likely to have ‘larger than local’ impact – across local authority borders.

·        CA’s are best placed to coordinate and deliver the strategic infrastructure required.

·        CA’s should be the conduit for devolved funding to overcome cashflow issues and deliver the upfront infrastructure.

·        CA’s should lead on site selection and land assembly including compulsory purchase.

·        CA’s can establish ‘mayoral’ development corporations to provide the relevant governance and democratic accountability.

7. How can central Government support the planning and delivery of new towns?

 Government can support the planning and delivery of new towns by:

·        Establishing an England Spatial Strategy to distribute the new towns in the context of housing need and national employment locations; transport; energy; water infrastructure etc.

·        Devolving powers to the Combined Authorities (CAs) to establish Development Corporations with the relevant governance and delivery powers e.g. compulsory purchase; master-developer / partnership structures; infrastructure delivery.

·        Provide funding to overcome the inevitable initial capital ‘lock-up’ required to open up the new towns and provide the initial infrastructure.

·        Pilot community land auctions (CLAs) - under The Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023 - as a way to maximise community benefits and optimise land value capture.

·        Being clear about the ‘golden rules’ in terms of affordable housing requirements and design standards in terms of low energy/carbon homes.

·        Ensuring a ‘joined-up’ approach to Ministries such as Treasury; Education; Transport; Housing.

8. What is the most effective economic model for building and managing a new town?

The most effective economic model will be based around the following principles:

a.      Location – the new town has to be located in a place where people want to live in terms of employment locations and amenity (and accessibility thereto).  This will ‘drive’ demand and value.

b.      Land bank control – subject to a., it would be preferable to work with landowners who are willing to be transparent about their minimum land value requirements and ‘lock-in’ minimum land returns such that the viability and deliverability can be guaranteed.

c.      Reverse land auctions – consider the use of reverse land auctions to create competition amongst potential new town locations to provide value for money.

d.      Master developer – there needs to be a [Mayoral] Development Corporation to act as ‘master-developer’ and banker for the key strategic infrastructure development to ‘un-lock’ the development plots and provide appropriately sized plots from volume-house-builders to custom-self build; and various tenures and specialist housing.

e.      Development Corporation – would provide the governance and management for revenue and costs of stewardship.

11.   b. In which types of locations and in which parts of the country would you prioritise the development of new towns and why?

 The location and size of new towns should be determined having regard to:

·        Demand - the new town has to be located in a place where people want to live in terms of employment locations and amenity (and accessibility thereto). 

·        Affordability – this is one indicator of demand, but it is not a determinant of demand. House prices could be high due to a lack of alternative provision elsewhere.

·        Employment – residents will need access to employment opportunities not withstanding recent working from home trends.  New towns therefore need to be linked to the Industrial Strategy.

·        Infrastructure – capacity within the existing infrastructure, such as heavy rail, water and power, needs to be factored in (including planned and committed infrastructure programmes).

·        Land – ability to work with landowners to control land values and ensure appropriate land value capture (notwithstanding compulsory purchase will more than likely be required for some land interests).

Ben Aspinall