Labour's new towns plans is a start on housing crisis – but much more is needed, experts say

Labour’s newly announced plans to build new towns of at least 10,000 new homes are ambitious but unlikely to be a short-term fix for the housing shortage, experts have told the Big Issue.

The government has set up an independent New Towns Taskforce, with 40% of the new housing to be affordable and locations identified within a year, putting detail on a pre-election promise of a “new generation” of new towns.

But a wave of fresh settlements may not happen in the next few years, say housing experts and campaigners.

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“There is no way this is going to be delivered within the first term of a government,” said Liz Emerson, co-founder of the Intergenerational Foundation think-tank.

Along with brand new towns, Labour’s plans for housing include expanding existing towns and cities. Its overall target is to build 1.5 million new homes, and Angela Rayner – the deputy prime minister and housing secretary – has told MPs mandatory housebuilding targets will be increased.

“A big new towns programme is helpful for getting housing supply going 10 years from now,” said Anthony Breach, associate director at the Centre for Cities think tank.

“In terms of immediate relief for house building and housing supply, I think some of the other changes around targets, around the greenbelt, and similar will probably be more important.”

“I don’t think there’s that many places that are going to be as successful locations as Milton Keynes, and similar, that we haven’t already built out. I would expect most of the new towns to wind up as urban extensions or large expansions of existing areas.”

Experts say the country needs the equivalent of 36 new Milton Keyneses to solve the housing crisis, but that these cannot simply be homes dropped into a vacuum.

Deputy prime minister Angela Rayner said: “Our new towns will deliver housing fit for the future, shaping new communities with real character that people can be proud to call home.”  

A ‘New Towns Code’ will govern the design of the towns, which Labour says will ensure they are “well-connected, well-designed, sustainable and attractive places where people want to live”.

New towns must not “build in” inequality by being dependent on cars, said Christopher Martin, co-founder of Urban Movement. Ambitious housebuilding targets on their own will not guarantee success, he said.

“Housing targets are a thing, and what makes them good or bad is the quality of the housing built, of the communities built, to ensure we’re not spending billions of pounds to lock in urban crises into our collective future,” said Martin.

“We can use housebuilding to fight the crises we’re facing, or kick them down the road. It’s the quality, not the quantity we need to be monitoring and championing.”

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