New Town Resources

‘Garden Communities’ are all the rage with developers, although it is just another word for New Towns. They allow the presentation of a development that is much, much larger than normal as something very different and very special. They invariably are not.
Modern Garden Communities are sprawling, car-dependent and lacking in the ‘community’ required by the name. Even worse there is now talk of ‘Forest Cities’ with 1,000,000 people.

In the past the Town & Country Planning Association (TCPA) has sometimes exacerbated the proliferation of garden communities (GCs). While the TCPA does very interesting and good work, it is sadly supportive of New Towns, believing that good planning can make them acceptable. We believe that the concept is outdated, flawed and undeliverable in the current planning climate. Here are the TCPA’s garden city principles, which are quoted by many developers, but rarely delivered: Garden City Principles | Town & Country Planning Association

In fact, Transport for New Homes has done some great research, in its report looking at ‘Visions and Reality’ – concluding that the reality does not meet the visions: Garden Villages and Garden Towns – Transport for New Homes

And Smart Growth UK has done a series of reports looking at New Towns, the latest in March 2026: New Towns – The Taskforce’s Strange Mixed Bag.

It will feel very daunting if you are facing an enormous garden community in your area. However, it is possible to see off an unsuitable proposal.

Community Planning Alliance Chairman, Rosie Pearson, started her campaigning ‘career’ opposing the biggest garden town of the modern era, a 24,000-home monstrosity known as West Tey which was long on promises and short on reality. There were two other new towns as part of the local plan, proposed jointly by four councils and backed by the Government. Her campaign group fought on planning grounds for over six years before eventually seeing off West Tey (and one of the other two). Meanwhile, campaigners in neighbouring Uttlesford also successfully fought off three unsustainable GCs.

The information and inspectors’ letters below will give you some idea of the kind of issues that are important.

CPA Submission to HoL Built Environment Committee on New Towns - July 2026

CPA responded to a call for evidence from the House of Lords Built Environment Committee on the Government’s plans for the next generation of new towns. This was the 3rd module of the inquiry and looked at the practical, physical challenges facing the construction and development sector in delivering new towns.
We said the greatest overlooked challenge is financing. Successful new towns are multi-decade infrastructure and financing programmes. Until this distinction is recognised, Government risks repeating many of the mistakes that have characterised previous generations of new towns.

Link: CPA Submission

CPA Submission to New Towns Consultation - April 2026

In March 2026, the government announced a consultation on the draft New Towns Programme, on the preferred 7 locations and the government’s proposed offer to the potential new towns locations.

The 7 chosen locations in the New Towns Programme are:

Tempsford
Crews Hill and Chase Park, Enfield
Leeds South Bank
Manchester Victoria North
Thamesmead, Greenwich
Brabazon and the West Innovation Arc, South Gloucestershire
Milton Keynes

We said in our response that there were remaining fundamental flaws with the New Towns process:

Absence of an overarching strategy
Failure to follow Treasury Green Book requirements
Requirement for substantial Government investment
The case for high-density, brownfield, urban regeneration has not been explored
Greenfield new towns will cause significant harm to the environment
High risk of failure under the current model
Over-reliance on developer assurances

And we remain concerned at the apparent ease with which promoters of the Forest City (1,000,000 people) have been able to meet and liaise with government ministers.

Link: CPA Submission

CPA Submission to Lords Built Environment Committee: New Towns Delivery - March 2025

The House of Lords Built Environment Committee held a modular inquiry into new towns and expanded settlements. Over a series of short, targeted modules, the Committee evaluated whether new towns and expanded settlements are an effective means of delivering housing and, if so, how to ensure they are successful.

The Government originally aimed to have up to 12 new towns under construction by the next election. More than 100 potential locations in England were identified and submitted to the New Towns Taskforce, the majority in London, the south east, and the south west.

CPA said that the New Towns Taskforce had set the bar low when it issued a call for sites instead of taking a strategic approach to new settlements. This means that sites submitted are developer selected and opportunistic. It also means that the Taskforce is reliant on developer honesty in submissions about the deliverability and viability of their proposals. In our experience, very thorough due diligence and robust testing of proposals will be required.
If, as it appears, the intention is that the private sector is to deliver new towns, then we will simply see more of the current housing model which, invariably results in car-dependent, low density, unaffordable (even when purportedly ‘affordable’) red-box sprawl. Instead, we advocate a Homes for Everyone approach that uses what we have (empty homes, commercial, brownfield, unbuilt planning permissions and spare rooms) before constructing new builds in the countryside.

Link: CPA Submission

CPA Submission to New Towns Taskforce - November 2024

The New Towns Taskforce was set up to advise ministers on appropriate locations for significant new communities, including large-scale urban extension and regeneration schemes. The Taskforce was looking at proposals that were regionally significant for both housing numbers and economic growth. The unifying principle will be that each of the new settlements should contain 10,000 homes, at the very least, and that most, if not all, will be far larger in size. The government was aiming for a gold standard of 40% affordable housing.

Link: CPA Submission

CPA Webinar: How to fight an unsuitable 'Garden Community'

In this webinar, recorded on March 17th 2022, we heard from two north Essex campaigners, Richard Pavitt and Rosie Pearson, whose campaign groups saw off five enormous garden communities proposals. The largest being for 24,000 homes.

Richard and Rosie explained what they learned during their campaigns and shared their top tips on how to get behind developer promises and oppose an unsuitable garden community.

North Essex Garden Communities

This proposal consisted of three new towns: West Tey, officially known as Colchester Braintree Borders GC – 24,000 homes; West of Braintree GC – 10,000 homes; East Colchester, officially known as Tendring Colchester Borders GC – 9000 homes. The GC’s were all in Section 1. The normal Local Plans of each district were in Section 2. They were all thrown out in 2018.

However, instead of taking the sensible option presented by the Inspector (removing the GCs from the plan and carrying on without them), the developers carried on trying to justify them and put together yet more evidence. This was examined in 2020, when West Tey and West of Braintree were rejected again. But unfortunately East Colchester (which is actually an urban extension, rather than a standalone GC) scraped through, with the help of a Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF) bid.

Post-Hearing Letter from May 2020 - courtesy of Braintree District Council

The Inspector’s post-hearing letter to the North Essex Authorities, dated 15th May 2020, detailing his varied decisions.

Link: braintree.gov.uk/downloads/file/267/ied022-inspector-s-post-hearing-letter-to-neas-15th-may-2020

Post-Hearing Letter from June 2018 - courtesy of Braintree District Council

The Inspector’s post-hearing letter to the North Essex Authorities, dated 8th June 2018, detailing his reasons for rejection.

Link: braintree.gov.uk/downloads/file/269/ied011-inspector-s-section-1-post-hearing-letter-to-neas-8-june-2018

Vital garden town link road suffers spiralling costs - courtesy of East Anglian Daily Times

As campaigners predicted, the HIF bid looked very shaky.

Link: eadt.co.uk/news/local-council/colchester-garden-towns-link-road-costs-8623506

Do you have or know of any resources that should be included in this library? If so, please contact us today!