Independent report

Initial government response - September 2025

Published 28 September 2025

Applies to England

One of this government’s first actions was to commission an independent New Towns Taskforce to recommend locations for the next generation of new towns. Learning the lessons from the past, this government believes that the delivery of large-scale, well-designed places is essential to tackling the housing crisis facing this country as well as delivering economic growth. Too many areas of our country have been constrained by a lack of housing which in turn limits their potential for growth and reduces economic opportunity. It is essential that we recapture the spirit of the post war new towns, when this country led the way in terms of housebuilding to deliver high quality affordable homes and raise living standards. The landmark report published today will not only inform the locations for the next generation of new towns, but also provides an opportunity to rethink how large-scale communities are delivered in this country.

The Taskforce, under the expert leadership of its Chair, Sir Michael Lyons, and Deputy Chair, Dame Kate Barker, was asked to identify prime opportunities for new towns across the country. Their Report, submitted to ministers earlier this summer and published today, sets out their recommendations for where to build new towns, as well as how to deliver them.

This initiative is not just about providing much needed additional housing. It is about creating new places and new communities, each place with a distinct sense of identity and the necessary infrastructure and amenities to support the health and wellbeing of its residents and neighbouring communities. That is why the government welcomes the Taskforce’s emphasis on ensuring new towns are designed in line with a placemaking approach which should form the building blocks of any new towns, ensuring that they are places where people are proud to live and work.

The government is grateful to the Taskforce, as well as its expert advisers and the key partners who have fed into this work, for producing such a considered and comprehensive set of final recommendations, which pave the way for decisions on which locations will be taken forward on new towns. New towns are by necessity long-term, multi-decade developments, but the Taskforce’s report underlines the importance of having the right building blocks in place from the outset to create places in which everyone can thrive as part of a strong community.  This policy statement sets out the government’s initial response to the Report and immediate next steps, with a fuller response to follow in Spring.

The Taskforce’s recommendations

The Taskforce’s report recommends a shortlist of 12 locations for new towns. In line with their remit, these recommended locations form a mixture of urban extensions, urban regeneration and standalone greenfield sites. The Taskforce has identified sites across a range of typologies that share core characteristics and reflect the government’s ambition for new towns to unlock economic growth and deliver housing at scale. Collectively they have the potential to deliver up to 300,000 homes across the country over the coming decades.

The 12 locations are:

• A standalone settlement in Adlington, Cheshire East; to serve the growing industries in Greater Manchester and Cheshire, as identified in the government’s Industrial Strategy.
• A corridor of connected development in South Gloucestershire, across Brabazon and the West Innovation Arc; building in one of the highest productivity areas in the country with a high value research, advanced engineering and technology economy.
• An expanded development bringing together Chase Park and Crews Hill in Enfield; delivering green development and helping address London’s acute housing need.
• Redevelopment of the former  airbase at Heyford Park in Cherwell; connecting to Oxford and building on the existing progress and commitment to high-quality placemaking; referencing the area’s past and supporting its future in innovative clean technology industries.
• Urban development in Leeds; catalysing on the city’s existing economic prospects and capturing the benefits of the government’s £2.1 billion local transport funding allocation for the Combined Authority by delivering well-connected, high-quality homes in the South Bank to support the city centre.
• Inner-city development and densification in Manchester, Victoria North; supporting continued growth and attracting high-skilled workers to service the city’s diverse industries.
• A standalone settlement in Marlcombe, East Devon; strengthening the region’s labour supply and supporting the Exeter and East Devon Enterprise Zone.
• A ‘Renewed Town’ in Milton Keynes; reinvigorating the city centre and expanding to the north and east whilst reshaping the way people travel, by delivering a Mass Rapid Transit system.
• Densified development in Plymouth; evolving Britain’s Ocean City and capitalising on the government’s £4.4 billion investment in HMNB Devonport, Western Europe’s largest naval base.
• A new settlement in Tempsford; to maximise the benefits of East West Rail by building a well-connected new town in the heart of the Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor.
• The creation of a riverside settlement in Thamesmead, Greenwich; unlocking inaccessible land in the city and improving connectivity if the proposed extension of the Docklands Light Railway can be delivered to enable the development.
• Expanded development at Worcestershire Parkway, Wychavon; accelerating delivery around the existing train station to help meet regional housing need and act as a model for sustainable, carbon neutral development.

Each of these new towns has been recommended by the Taskforce for its potential to deliver on the following objectives:

a. unlocking potential economic growth, including through encouraging greater labour mobility and job opportunities, and promoting growth where it is currently constrained by the cost or availability of housing;
b. accelerating housing delivery through the provision of new homes that people need, with a mix of housing tenures that support diverse communities and include affordable homes and high-quality social housing;
c. providing housing for strong communities with the necessary infrastructure, services, and amenities – ensuring residents have access to education, healthcare, transportation, cultural and sporting facilities, and green spaces;
d. creating environmentally resilient places that support the government’s net zero agenda through sustainable design, nature enhancement, low-carbon infrastructure, and responsible development, including flood risk mitigation; and
e. contributing to transforming the way that large settlements are delivered, including through longer-term planning and the approach to infrastructure provision and supporting the construction industry and related supply chains to expand and deliver more efficient outcomes.

Initial response to the Taskforce’s recommendations

The government thanks the New Towns Taskforce for its diligent work over the past 12 months. We warmly welcome all 12 of the locations it has recommend. Prima facie, each has the clear potential to deliver on the government’s objectives, with Tempsford, Crews Hill and Leeds South Bank looking particularly promising as sites that might make significant contributions to unlocking economic growth and accelerating housing delivery. 

We are today (28 September 2025) commencing a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) to understand the environmental implications of new towns development. This will support final decisions on precisely which locations we take forward. No final decisions on locations will be made until that SEA concludes and preferred locations could change as a result of the process.

Ministers and officials will now begin work with local partners to develop detailed proposals and enhance our understanding of how different locations might meet the government’s expectations of what a future New Towns Programme can deliver, with all promising sites and reasonable alternatives assessed and considered through the SEA process. Appropriate assessment under the Habitats Regulations will also be undertaken when required.

We are determined to get spades in the ground on at least three new towns in this Parliament and the government is prepared to progress work on a far larger range of locations if it proves possible. 

The post-war new towns programme was the most ambitious town-building effort ever undertaken in the UK. The next generation of new towns must match that post-war vision. The government will be looking for assurance that any location can be effectively and efficiently delivered in partnership with local communities, has a clear economic purpose, and will support national economic growth. We will also seek to test different delivery vehicles to learn lessons for how future large settlements are delivered and to contribute to a wider transformation of housing supply.

The government will publish the draft proposals and final SEA for consultation early next year, before confirming the locations that will be progressed as new towns later in the Spring alongside a full response to the New Towns Taskforce’s report.

Placemaking

We have been clear we want exemplary development to be the norm, not the exception. The next generation of new towns must be well-connected, well-designed, sustainable, healthy and attractive places where people want to live and have all the infrastructure, amenities and services necessary to sustain thriving communities established from the outset. The government therefore supports the placemaking approach recommended by the Taskforce and is encouraged by the aims of its recommended placemaking principles.

Final selection of placemaking principles will be subject to environmental assessment and consultation, however we are committed to new towns being places for everyone to live, and they should have a range of housing types available, including genuinely affordable homes. In particular, the Taskforce report recommends that new towns will include the aim of a minimum of 40% for affordable homes of which half is for social rent. The report also recommends that new towns should be sustainable for communities of the future, encouraging active travel and providing access to green spaces, all designed in a way which supports better health, learning from the former NHS England Healthy New Towns programme. They should also be designed to sufficient density, with everything residents need within easy access, including public transport and vital social infrastructure such as schools and GP surgeries. 

Government is committed to ensuring that all new towns are thriving and sustainable places. We will therefore consider how best to ensure expectations are set and managed at a national level. In response to the Taskforce recommendations, we will also consider which design and placemaking review and support mechanisms will most effectively assist the selected locations in delivering placemaking principles with implementation of such principles subject to environmental assessment and consultation.

Delivery vehicles

The government agrees with the Taskforce that the preference for new town delivery should be through the development corporation model, while recognising the need for flexibility depending on the circumstances of each site. The government will assess the delivery vehicle options for each place, including consideration of central, mayoral and local development corporations, and the potential for public-private partnerships.

Ensuring that new towns are delivered at pace is a key aim of this government. We are using all the tools at our disposal, including assessing a range of powerful delivery bodies for each site. More reforms are on the way, such as the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, which will drive nature recovery and strengthen the powers of development corporations.

Funding

The delivery of new towns will be backed by funding across the government’s landmark housing programmes, such as the £39 billion Social and Affordable Housing Programme, hundreds of millions of grant from the National Housing Delivery Fund, and additional capital funding managed by the National Housing Bank. 

The establishment of new towns will also be factored into the future spending plans of other departments and regulators, ensuring they have the utilities, transport, and social infrastructure needed for the community to thrive.   

Beyond land value capture and institutional investors, the Taskforce also suggested that government should explore the role of tax within the financing model, to support the delivery of new towns. A working group bringing local leaders together with the Treasury is exploring how to unlock potential levers.

Government policy on planning and land acquisition

Planning and decision-making in potential new town locations

In advance of the government confirming new town locations, planning authorities for areas in which a new town may be located should continue with plan-making. Local planning authorities should continue to approach planning applications in these locations in a positive and proactive manner. Development of new towns is a priority ambition of this government. Pending a final decision on locations for new towns, planning decision makers should give consideration to any potential impacts of other developments on the delivery of the locations for potential new towns as recommended by the New Towns Taskforce. 

The Secretary of State has the power to call-in decisions on applications where planning issues of more than local importance are involved, in line with the existing 2012 Written Ministerial Statement.

Spatial planning frameworks will be established for each new town location following environmental assessments and relevant consultations. These will reflect infrastructure and affordable housing placemaking principles and the expected developer contributions required to deliver such principles through capturing land value uplift.  We will consult on revised national policies for plan-making and decision-making later this year as part of changes to the National Planning Policy Framework. This will include considering how best to support the development of new towns in planning policy.

Planning for Local Housing Need

The government notes wider recommendations by the Taskforce on ensuring that the planning system is set up to support new towns and that the legislative framework facilitates the role of development corporations in their delivery. The government will carefully consider these recommendations ahead of its fuller response in the Spring.

In advance of this, the government wants to reassure local leaders that a consistent and fair approach will be taken to how local housing need targets interact with the future delivery of new towns, to support our overall aim of increasing housing supply. The government will set out more detail on how the delivery of new towns will interact with local housing need in due course.

Government’s approach to land

Once designated, the government will support the relevant new town delivery bodies to acquire land. We are clear that where, despite reasonable efforts, it has not been possible to negotiate an agreement with landowners to acquire land, the relevant bodies will be able to make full use of their compulsory purchase powers where there is a compelling case in the public interest. The new town compulsory purchase guidance is clear that a fully developed new town scheme is not necessary to commence the Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) proceedings. We will ensure that new town development corporations are resourced to progress acquisitions via CPOs – where they are needed - as quickly, efficiently and fairly as possible. 

The ‘no-scheme principle’ of compensation for compulsory purchase will apply, so compensation will not include any land value generated by the new town scheme. Any value associated with the potential for planning permission that arises as a result of the relevant new town scheme, including from potential created from the planning framework for the new town scheme, will also be disregarded in accordance with this principle.   

The government expects delivery bodies to use the power introduced by the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 to acquire land for new towns development by compulsory purchase with a direction removing ‘hope value’ compensation, where affordable housing is to be provided by the development and the direction is justified in the public interest. If a ‘hope value’ direction is confirmed over any land required for a new town, the relevant landowners will not be compensated for any value associated with the prospect of a new planning permission being granted for that land.  This includes any value associated with the prospect of a new planning permission being granted for speculative development. The government will examine where opportunities to use this power would make a difference to delivery.

The government is reviewing the Planning Practice Guidance (PPG) on viability, which sets out how land value should be defined for the purpose of viability assessment. The government will set out, in due course, further detail on viability and land value considerations for new towns. This will help to ensure that landowners receive a fair return while also minimising the development costs that are borne by the new town delivery vehicle to deliver high placemaking standards.  

Government offer and next steps

Delivering the next generation of new towns will be a cross-government effort and central to government’s agenda, not just in terms of building homes but to drive economic growth and spread economic opportunity across the country. This will be a priority across all government departments to ensure that new towns are built with the infrastructure and amenities required to create successful new places, with the long-term certainty of funding.

New towns are an opportunity to deliver across our missions and provide an opportunity to test-bed new innovative policies from across government. In addition to providing funding and infrastructure support set out above, we are working closely with the Department of Health and Social Care to embed the government’s vision for neighbourhood health into the design and infrastructure for new towns, with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to consider the opportunity for more nature positive and climate resilient places, with the Department for Education and Work and Pensions to consider the opportunity for new skills partnerships and economic hubs and with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to consider the opportunity for culture, sport, youth and community infrastructure.

Once new towns are selected the government will back them to deliver as quickly as possible, using all levers at its disposal. This relies not just on strong collaboration with local partners, but effective and fast cross-government collaboration and support.  To enable this, government will support selected new towns to deliver by providing a single front door to government and support to set up delivery vehicles as well as the provision of robust national planning policy.

To prepare the ground, the government’s New Towns Unit is joining forces with Homes England in a new delivery partnership to lead on discussions with places and work across government departments to stress-test spending and delivery plans for the vital economic and social infrastructure that each new town will require.

The Housing Minister will oversee this work, reporting directly to the Home and Economic Affairs (Infrastructure) Cabinet Committee. The government will also ensure that valuable expertise and direction from outside of government is continuously fed in, with the establishment of an advisory group, to provide expert advice on delivery, placemaking, quality and design.

New towns provide a once in a generation opportunity to both provide the homes that people need but also fundamentally reshape the way that large scale communities are built in this country. We will work tirelessly across government and with delivery partners and local communities to ensure that new towns are, in the words of the Taskforce, not just places to live, but places to live well.