The Housing Secretary revealed up to 300,000 homes on the ruins of the next 12 new towns in England over the weekend.
Steve Reed said at a Labor meeting in Liverpool on Sunday that the locations spanned the areas of Manchester, London and Devon and should be built by 2050.
But he added that construction work in three areas will begin before the next election – Tempsford in Bedfordshire, London, Crews Hill and Leeds South Bank.
Charlie Collins, head of Savills’ office, pointed out that “the mechanism to implement planned licensing” is key to the rapid process.
“It could be a routine route by submitting a plan application to the local planning department, or by creating a development company, or even a planning application to the Parliamentary bill, such as using a special development order,” Collins said.
He added that no matter what route is used, the minister must “address the complexity of such large projects and embed best practice sustainability, design quality and environmental enhancement.
“To achieve these goals and convince local stakeholders and residents to get benefits is crucial if the program is intended to avoid pitfalls associated with similar programs in the past garden villages and eco-towns.”
The New Towns Taskce, led by Sir Michael Lyons, developed the site, which was commissioned by the government in September last year to select a development site.
New towns should own at least 10,000 homes and have ambitions with at least 40% affordable housing, half of which will be spent on social rents.
The Ministry of Housing confirmed that a strategic environmental assessment will be conducted on all dozen locations to understand the environmental impacts of developing new towns.
It added: “The government will release a draft proposal and a final strategic environmental assessment in the spring to conduct consultations and then confirm the location that will develop into a new town soon,” it added.
However, Savills’ Collins noted that strategic environmental assessment is not a challenging exercise.
He said: “Those who recall the regional plan will recall the location-specific decisions in the strategic document, which opens such decisions to the risks of judicial review.
“So, strategic environmental assessment is a necessary process, albeit challenging, to ensure that technical and environmental issues are properly considered.”
Savills added that “the ministers and officials will now begin working with local partners” to develop detailed recommendations about what these new towns look like.
The towns will be delivered through development companies that are expected to have mandatory purchase rights.
Collins said: “The ‘undoubted compensation principle’ will apply and has the potential to exclude “the value of hope.”
“The claim aims to ensure that proper infrastructure and affordable housing are provided, although this will require a balanced approach with rapid and efficient land presentation.”
Collins added: “For example, it is worth noting that some new towns are already in the planning process, such as allocating in emerging local plans.
“A key question is whether some or all of the houses offered through the program can be counted into local housing or employment requirements.”
However, Labor’s new town plan has been widely welcomed.
Lord Gasconi, Chairman of the House of Lords Building Environment Committee, said: “The Secretary of State is committed to ‘build, baby, build’.
“My challenge to him is to follow that promise and reach the highest standards.
“The country urgently needs a visionary housing construction program to capture the public’s imagination and provide the ambition and quality of the post-war new town plan. Now is the time to take action.”
Vicky Evans, head of planning and design at Arup Ukimea City, noted that ensuring the right infrastructure is built to support new homes is crucial.
Evans believes: “New towns must be seen as engines of economic growth, not just housing development.
“This means access to infrastructure from day one. Often, people are opposed to development because people are concerned about avoidable drawbacks: crowded roads, complete GP surgery and scarce school places.
“Infrastructures that solve these problems usually come too late.
