Towns to be boosted under government investment

Over a hundred sites across England have come forward to be considered for the next generation of towns, with hundreds of thousands of working people set to benefit from the investment. The prime minister is set to unveil the government’s plans to deliver urban regeneration, and over 100 proposals across every region in England have already been submitted for their towns to benefit. Each town will have the potential to provide at least 10,000 homes.

The New Towns Taskforce has today set principles on what the next generation of new towns will deliver: affordable housing, vital infrastructure, and access to open green spaces and nature, to transform the lives of working people. 20,000 new homes have already been pushed through planning phases using the government’s New Homes Accelerator programme.

Funding will be announced by the government today, including £1 million for government agencies, including National Highways, Natural England and the Environmental Agency, which will go towards speaking up the planning approval of new homes and improve feedback to local authorities and industry. 

£2 million will go towards the Building Safety Regulator to continuing improving the speed of processing new-build applications. Over £3 million will be in the form of grants for local councils to bolster planning capacity, alongside direct advice to navigate some of the more complex issues holding up new-build applications.

Further funding is going towards driving regeneration, with £20 million to help transform neglected small-scale council-owned sites into new homes, for the areas most in need. Almost £30 million from the Brownfield Infrastructure and Land Fund in Bradford will go towards transforming derelict brownfield sites into a vibrant residential area with 1,000 new homes, three community parks, shops, cafés, restaurants, and offices. 

A further £1.5 will go towards a regeneration programme at Manchester Victoria North, delivering a new district of 15,000 homes with transport links and green spaces.

The prime minister said: “For so many families, homeownership is a distant dream. After a decade of decline in housebuilding, the impact is a disconnect between working hard and getting on.

“This is about more than just bricks and mortar. It’s about the security and stability that owning your own home brings. I know what this means for working people — the roof about our head was everything for our family growing up.

“We’ve already made progress in just seven months, unblocking 20,000 stuck homes. But there’s more to do.

“We’re urgently using all levers available to build the homes we need to more families can get on the housing ladder. We’re sweeping aside the blockers to get houses built, no longe accepting no as the default answer, and paving the way for the next generation of new towns.”