Mayor鈥檚 office engaging with New Towns Taskforce but says homes must count towards targets
Sadiq Khan is considering allowing new towns of more than 10,000 homes to be built on London鈥檚 green belt, the mayor鈥檚 office has confirmed.
Planned communities such as Stevenage and Milton Keynes formed a major part of new housing delivery after World War II, and the current Labour government has revived the concept as part of its plans to ramp up housebuilding in the UK.
The government鈥檚 New Towns Taskforce is currently examining almost 100 proposals for new towns and will recommend locations to ministers in July.
London鈥檚 mayor announced his own radical plans to boost housebuilding in the city last Friday, which came before reports that the housing secretary, Angela Rayner, had cut London鈥檚 targets for affordable housing strats.
The mayor will be expected to achieve between 17,800 to 19,000 affordable homes start by March 2026, rather than 23,900 to 27,100.
His announcement on Friday included a major review of the capital鈥檚 green belt, which could see large swathes of land opened up for development.
Khan鈥檚 speech came alongside the publication of a consultation document, which gives the first indications of what the next London Plan might look like.
鈥淥pportunities for large-scale development (10,000+ homes in each location) in London鈥檚 green belt are being considered in areas with good public transport access (or where this could feasibly be delivered),鈥� it said.
The document said there is 鈥漵ignificant potential with the government鈥檚 New Towns Taskforce鈥�, which it said the Greater London Authority would be engaging with.
However, it said that 鈥漚ny new homes delivered would need to count towards, not be additional to, meeting London鈥檚 nationally-established housing need of 88,000 homes per year鈥�.
The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government鈥檚 current position is that new towns housing numbers would not count towards meeting the assessed housing need of the area in which they are built.
A spokesperson for the Mayor of London said: 鈥淲e are doing all we can in London to help deliver the homes that are so desperately needed.
鈥淭he Mayor wants to work with the UK Government and New Towns Taskforce to make sure that any work on new towns goes hand in hand with the development of his next London Plan to deliver high quality and affordable homes.鈥�
As well as mooting possible new towns in London鈥檚 green belt, the consultation document also alludes to using the capital鈥檚 designated 鈥極pportunity Areas鈥� as potential new town sites.
鈥淲e will also explore whether and how the government鈥檚 New Towns Taskforce work might apply within London鈥檚 current urban area to certain OAs of significant scale,鈥� it said.
Opportunity Areas, many of which are in more central parts of the city, are locations identified in the London Plan as having major potential for new homes, jobs and infrastructure.
A report by Business LDN late last year said at least one new town should be built in the capital in order to address housing need.
The report, developed with consultants, architects and planners, including Arup and DP9, said the capital鈥檚 unique political structures made it relatively easy to launch new towns, with strategic plan-making through the London Plan, and a mayor with the power to establish development corporations and responsibility for much of the city鈥檚 transit system.
It did not pinpoint exact locations for a new town in London, but noted that 60% of London鈥檚 green belt was within 2km of an existing rail or tube station and that a number of those locations overlapped with existing 鈥極pportunity Areas鈥�, earmarked in the London plan as apt for new homes and infrastructure.
Jonathan Seager, policy delivery director at BusinessLDN, said at the time: 鈥淚f the Government wants to move fast on new towns, London has the connectivity, demand and political set-up needed to get spades in the ground swiftly.
鈥漈he city is uniquely placed to house multiple types of these developments as part of the drive by Ministers to hit ambitious housing and growth targets.
鈥澬园傻缣� one or more new towns in the capital should be a no-brainer for both economic and social reasons.鈥�
Earlier this week (13 May), the House of Lords built environment committee heard evidence in its inquiry into the practical delivery of new towns.
John Sturzaker, Ebenezer Howard chair of planning at the University of Hertfordshire, told the committee that public acceptance of the new towns would be heavily influenced by how well important infrastructure requirements are realised in advance.
鈥滻 think it鈥檚 really important that the infrastructure to support these communities is going in before, or at the very least, at the same time as new housing, whether that鈥檚 a village hall, whether it鈥檚 schools, whether it鈥檚 shops, so that you don鈥檛 have people living a sort of pioneer lifestyle,鈥� he said
鈥淲e need to have an infrastructure first approach, which common in other parts of Europe鈥�.
The professor also noted that the government鈥檚 definition of new towns would include much smaller developments than the post-war new towns.
鈥�10,000 is not very big in terms of a new town. if you wanted a standalone new town like the traditional ones you might be looking at 10 or 20 times that,鈥� he said, suggesting that the government was more likely to be looking at urban extensions or networks of smaller new towns.
Speaking to Housing Today鈥檚 sister title 性吧电台, he elaborated on his comments to the committee and addressed how the government could approach new town development within the M25.
鈥淭he traditional model of new towns that we鈥檙e familiar with in this country, places like Hatfield or Stevenage or Milton Keynes, would be too big to be within Greater London,鈥� he said.
He referenced Chapelton in Aberdeenshire and Chelmsford Garden Community in Essex as examples of new towns of a smaller scale.
He said he wasn鈥檛 aware of any suitable sites in London but said he had 鈥渘o doubt there will be some鈥�.
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