New town locations and strategic environmental assessments reviewed

On 22 March the locations of seven new towns were named by the government for consideration as part of what it calls "the most ambitious housebuilding programme in more than half a century. Built for the future from the ground up, the next generation of new towns will create well-connected new communities with homes, jobs, schools, green space and transportlinks planned from the start." Each proposed location is expected to deliver at least 10,000 homes, with several delivering 40,000 or more in the decades to come and are supported by the New Towns Draft Programme, a consultation published on 23 March 2026. The consultation also importantly seeks views on Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) reports which focus on local environmental constraints, the cumulative effects of new towns development and practical methods of mitigation and monitoring.

The proposed locations are:

Tempsford, Bedfordshire — up to 40,000 homes built around a new East West Rail station, linking residents to Cambridge, Oxford, London and Milton Keynes

Crews Hill and Chase Park, Enfield — up to 21,000 homes helping to meet London’s acute housing need

Leeds South Bank, West Yorkshire — up to 20,000 homes capitalising on the city’s economic momentum and the government’s £2.1 billion local transport investment

Manchester Victoria North, Greater Manchester — at least 15,000 homes regenerating the heart of Greater Manchester, with a new Metrolink stop connecting residents to jobs across the city

Thamesmead, Greenwich — up to 15,000 homes unlocking inaccessible riverside land in London, enabled by the planned Docklands Light Railway extension

Brabazon and the West Innovation Arc, South Gloucestershire — up to 40,000 homes at the heart of a world-class research and advanced engineering economy

Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire — building on its history as one of the original new towns, to take forward the ‘renewed town’ vision to expand the city by around 40,000 homes and reinvigorate the centre with a new local transport system, boosting connectivity in the Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor

Following this consultation and completion of the SEA and Habitats Regulation Assessments, the government intends to publish final proposals and confirm the New Town programme locations later in summer 2026