New Towns Taskforce interim policy statement

[edit] Background

On 31 July 2024, the government announced the establishment of a New Homes Taskforce. In September 2024 the New Towns Taskforce was established, with Sir Michael Lyons (see Lyons Housing Review) as its chair and Dame Kate Barker (former non-exec director at Taylor Wimpey) as Deputy Chair. The task force acts as an independent expert advisory panel appointed by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) to support the government to deliver the next generation of new towns.

In February 2025 the New Towns Taskforce published its interim report as a policy statement, updating the government on progress in its first six months. The policy paper 'Building new towns for the future' is briefly summarised below.

[edit] Aims of the Taskforce

The New Towns Programme aims to drive economic growth by improving job opportunities and housing availability. It seeks to accelerate housing delivery with diverse tenures, including affordable and high-quality social housing. The programme focusses on creating well-planned communities with essential infrastructure, services, and green spaces. It promotes environmental resilience, aligning with the government’s net-zero goals through sustainable design and low-carbon infrastructure. Additionally, it aims to transform large-scale development by improving long-term planning and infrastructure provision, whereby each settlement has at least 10,000 homes, ensuring a system-wide approach to urban expansion and revitalisation.

[edit] Lessons from the past

The Programme builds on lessons from past UK initiatives, including post-1945 new towns, Eco-towns and Garden Communities. These shape the Taskforce’s recommendations, ensuring new towns serve as exemplary models of sustainable, inclusive, and resilient development for future generations via:

• Vision – Delivery at scale requires a clear, locally-specific vision including what is to be achieved, grounded in local communities and clarity on the unique benefits of each town
• Community engagement – Clear, effective engagement with the local community with goals for the area.
• Site selection – Strategically rational, supported by existing infrastructure, ideally with local support to ensure successful development.
• Balanced communities and diverse housing – Resilient communities rely on appropriate housing stock, including development by SME housebuilders for different housing types and tenures, inc. social housing.
• Business creation, growth and employment opportunities – Places for work and business growth.
• Well-connected – Effective public transport within the town itself as well as links to wider transport networks
• Environmental sustainability – New towns must be ambitious in meeting environmental targets, including to achieve net zero, support climate resilience and encourage biodiversity, to ensure they are fit for the future.
• Healthy and safe communities – Must promote healthy lives, with access to green spaces, parks and nature.
• Social infrastructure – Build whole communities, with provision of social infrastructure at the outset, including hospitals, schools, community centres, cultural, sporting facilities, and shops. Social infrastructure supports desirability, helping address disparities in human capital, promoting social cohesion, wellbeing and health
• Long-term funding – This is essential for new towns, requiring sensitivity to development types and market conditions to attract private investment and ensure successful long-term delivery
• Stewardship – A sustainable stewardship model must be in place from the outset, including clear governance structures to maintain infrastructure over the long term

[edit] Draft principles

The Taskforce has developed draft principles to provide the building blocks for every new town:

• Vision led: have a clear long term vision for each town, with a distinct identity, so they become places residents are proud to call home.
• Higher density: be built at a higher density that enables residents to walk to local amenities, take advantage of easier travel further afield and relax in shared, inclusive, open green spaces close to home.
• Long-term stewardship: have a clear plan for maintaining the town through its lifetime, to ensure it continues to meet residents’ needs.
• Community engagement: establish clear and effective ways to engage the local community in shaping the vision and goals for the area.
• Well-connected: have effective public transport within the town itself as well as links to wider transport networks and support cycling and walking.
• Business creation, growth and employment opportunities: provide jobs for residents and enable businesses to grow, supporting the government’s economic growth mission.
• Healthy and safe communities: promote healthy lives, providing communities with easy access to parks and nature.
• Balanced communities: provide a diverse range of high-quality housing with a range of housing types to suit the needs of a balanced community, including affordable housing and homes for social rent.
• Social infrastructure: focus on building thriving communities, ensuring access to good schools, cultural and sporting facilities, healthcare and hospitals to ensure new residents have the facilities they need from the outset.
• Environmental sustainability: support climate resilience and biodiversity and be ambitious in meeting environmental targets, meaning cleaner air, more parks and green spaces that are better for wellbeing.

[edit] Reactions to the interim report

[edit] Chartered Institute of Chartered Architectural Technlogists

CIAT has welcomed the interim policy statement. Eddie Weir PCIAT, CIAT President, said:

"Addressing the housing crisis in the UK is foundational to economic growth, enabling people to live safe, secure and rewarding lives. CIAT supports the development of the next generation of new towns, and we welcome this update as a key marker towards this goal."

"New towns must be places where people want to live and must be built for the long term. We welcome the Taskforce’s ambition to deliver well-connected, sustainable communities supported by strong social infrastructure. Delivering that vision means integrating coherent planning and design at all levels, from spatial planning to architectural design."

"At the same time, the vast majority of the homes and buildings that the UK will need by 2050 already exist, and these communities must not be neglected. In particular, the task of retrofitting homes and buildings so that they are sustainable and resilient to a changing climate is only becoming more urgent and CIAT looks forward to the publication of an ambitious Warm Homes Plan as soon as possible."

"Chartered Architectural Technologists will continue to support these twin priorities, bringing their unique skills to bear to deliver a safe and sustainable built environment that meets the needs of current and future generations."

[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings

• Eco towns.
• Garden cities.
• Garden communities.
• Garden communities and the historic environment.
• Garden towns.
• Grey belt land
• New Towns Act.
• New Town Development Corporation.
• New towns heritage.
• New Towns: the rise, fall and rebirth.
• New Towns Taskforce.
• Town.
• Town and Country Planning Act.
• Urban sprawl.
• New Towns Taskforce.