The Built Environment Committee has published its report, ‘New Towns: Creating Communities’, following the second module of its inquiry into new towns.
Lord Gascoigne, Chair of the Built Environment Committee, said the new towns programme needs a compelling national vision.
He called for strong national leadership and clear coordination across government, supporting delivery on the ground at the local level to create sustainable, flourishing communities for the decades ahead.
The report’s release comes just days after the Government revealed the locations of seven New Towns in England.
“The purpose of the new towns programme must go beyond just meeting housing numbers,” Lord Gascoigne explained. “People need to be able to thrive, rather than simply survive, in these new towns; that means that the new towns have to be accessible, age-friendly and safe.
“Now that the Government has set out the locations of seven new towns that will be considered and confirmed the launch of the National Housing Bank, it needs to tell the country how it is going to deliver these new places.”
The key findings from the report are:
- Placemaking should be people-centred, nature‑rich and locally distinctive.
The new towns must avoid homogeneity. In addition to prioritising walkable neighbourhoods, high‑quality public spaces, and biodiversity, they must incorporate diverse plot sizes and reuse existing structures as much as possible, drawing on the local landscape and heritage to create distinct identities. - Health and inclusion must be designed in from the start, not retrofitted.
The new towns must embed opportunities for active travel, green/blue infrastructure and social spaces that support physical and mental wellbeing and proactively support access for all. New towns should embed the principles of the NHS 10‑Year Health Plan, co‑locating care in community settings and enabling green and social prescribing to improve outcomes and reduce demand on acute services. We also recommend delivering at least one flagship intergenerational housing pilot within the programme. Each new town should appoint an Accessibility Champion to oversee the design and construction process and avoid costly retrofitting. There should also be a central Accessibility Champion to provide oversight across all schemes. - Masterplanning must be flexible, phased and infrastructure‑first.
Each new town must be delivered in phases with regular reviews of the masterplan so that they can adapt to the changing needs and aspirations of the community. Essential social, health, active‑travel and green/blue infrastructure must be in place from the day the first residents move in, with temporary ‘meanwhile’ spaces used to bridge early gaps. Masterplans should include diverse, SME‑sized plot parcels and make routine use of open design competitions to encourage purposeful innovation while adhering to established, evidence‑based design principles. - True value for money comes from early investment, patient capital, and “meanwhile” delivery; cutting corners will cost far more.
There must be adequate funding up-front for social, health, and green infrastructure (including temporary, flexible community spaces). This requires all stakeholders to take a whole‑life view of each new town: good design and stewardship reduce costs and increase value in the medium- to long-term; speculative, low‑cost delivery ultimately only leads to failed communities and far higher remedial costs. The Government and delivery bodies should use digital twins and whole‑life value metrics, including the Construction Innovation Hub’s Value Toolkit and robust social‑value measures, to track outcomes, demonstrate value for money, and share best practice.
In addition to these principal recommendations specific to the topic of this module of the inquiry, this report also draws upon and reiterates a number of recommendations from the Committee’s first report in this inquiry, ‘New Towns: Laying the Foundations’. In particular, the report calls again for the Government to establish a single, autonomous central body, reporting directly to a Cabinet-level minister with sufficient authority to coordinate departments, steward quality and manage new town assets over the long term. The report also repeats the Committee’s call for the Government to set out a clear national and local vision for the programme as a whole and for the individual developments.
