New Towns for new times
With the need for more housing front and centre of election debates, could New Towns be the answer? Victor Nicholls and Dr Emma Street respond to the current upsurge in interest for Henley Ballot Box series.
With the general election campaign in full swing, both major parties are leading on different ways to tackle the challenge of meeting housing needs.
The Conservatives have unveiled plans to increase the threshold for Stamp Duty for first time buyers, as well promoting a new generation of locally-led urban development corporations. Labour plan a wide range of initiatives including major reform of the planning system, reviewing the Green Belt, and devolving planning powers. But our interest was piqued by Labour’s proposal to build a new generation of New Towns, “inspired by the legacy of the 1945 Labour government”.
What is a New Town?
The New Town Act in 1946 was an ambitious piece of post-war planning legislation that led to the development of 32 brand new towns in the UK. New Towns were designed to offer residents a good quality of life with an emphasis on self-sufficiency – they were built to be walkable and include local employment opportunities.
Typically, they featured extensive areas of green space and modern, spacious family housing and community facilities. The programme is seen as one of the world’s most ambitious town planning experiments, and today, around 2.8 million people live in the UK’s New Towns.