Seven proposed new towns with strategic environmental assessments

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 transport links planned from the start."

The seven locations were selected from a longer list of 12, following ongoing work by the New Towns Taskforce, which was established in July 2024, published the Building new towns for the future; the interim report of the New Towns Taskforce published in August 2025 and New Towns Taskforce: Report to government published in September 2025. The government gave its initial response to the Independent report also in September and now confirming that it expects each of the proposed locations to deliver at least 10,000 homes, with several delivering 40,000 or more in the decades to come.

The announcement is now being supported by the New Towns Draft Programme, also published on 23 March 2026., which is a consultation document primarily covering the proposals. Importantly however the consultation also 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 for the seven new towns 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.

The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) defines a strategic environmental assessment (SEA) as: 'A procedure (set out in the Environmental Assessment of Plans and Programmes Regulations 2004) which requires the formal environmental assessment of certain plans and programmes which are likely to have significant effects on the environment.' As such the government also published the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government: New Towns Programme, Strategic Environmental Assessment Environmental Report, a non-technical summary (NTS) overview of the Environmental Report produced as part of the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) of the draft programme. This NTS provide an overview of the draft programme, the SEA process and how it has been applied to the draft programme, including the SEA, the objectives used in the assessment, a summary of its findings of the SEA of the draft programme, and reasonable alternatives) with the series of next steps in the SEA process set out clearly.

The New Towns Draft Programme Open consultation published by Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on 23 March 2026 closes at on 19 May 2026 it includes the New Towns Draft Programme, Annex A: Draft New Towns Planning Policy, Annex B: Final Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) environmental report and Annex C: Locations Methodology - New Towns Draft Programme, all of which can be found via this link.

[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings

• Birkenhead.
• Eco towns.
• Environmental impact assessment.
• Environmental plan.
• Expert taskforce to spearhead a new generation of new towns.
• French new towns.
• Garden cities.
• Garden communities.
• Garden communities and the historic environment.
• Garden towns.
• Government policy statement on new towns, and the independent New Towns Taskforce.
• Grey belt land
• Harlow new town.
• New Towns Act.
• New Town Development Corporation.
• New towns heritage.
• New Towns Taskforce: Report to government.
• New Towns: the rise, fall and rebirth.
• New Towns Taskforce.
• Town.
• Town and Country Planning Act.
• Urban sprawl.
• National planning policy framework.
• National planning practice guidance.
• New Towns Taskforce.
• New Towns Taskforce interim policy statement.
• New Towns Taskforce: Report to government.
• Planning permission.
• Strategic environmental assessment.
• Strategic environmental assessment directive.
• Sustainability.
• Sustainability appraisal.
• The New Towns Taskforce.
• Town.
• Town and Country Planning Act.
• Urban sprawl.