Commitment over chaos: what the next generation of new towns need

Ultimately, residents want to feel that regeneration is being carried out in collaboration with them, not happening to them. Being left on the sidelines as construction progresses only fosters fear and resistance.

Any regeneration project must be centred around the bigger picture, rather than just bricks and mortar. Today’s buyers and homeowners want consideration of green spaces, transport links and accessible facilities, to create towns that make sense for those who will be residing in them for years to come.

By engaging with communities from the early stages, insights can be used to improve strategic masterplanning – for example, developers and councils can gain better insight into the facilities required to support housing different religious communities, along with how flexible tenure options and community-led housing can help meet diverse needs.

“By educating communities and their residents on the longer-term benefits of regeneration, it’s likely that more will be on board and contribute to, rather than stifle, progress”

This early engagement will also provide the opportunity for planners, developers and local authorities to address hesitancies and challenge the stigma around regeneration. By educating communities and their residents on the longer-term benefits of regeneration, it’s likely that more will be on board and contribute to, rather than stifle, progress.

However, while this engagement is valuable for planning towns that address community needs, funding continues to be a real issue hindering delivery. As developers face huge upfront costs, with returns at the very end of the sales journey, it’s no surprise that a lack of funding means that infrastructure often lags behind housing delivery.

Moving forward, a new approach to funding regeneration is required. Front-loading infrastructure by securing transport and social facilities before or alongside housing, for example, can help to attract both residents and investors. Governance and funding models also need to be embedded earlier for long-term asset management, sustaining new towns beyond their initial delivery.

Leveraging Urban Development Corporations (UDCs) can also help to address delays due to funding. A UDC will work as an independent agency to drive a project forward, from acquiring the land for development and granting planning permission, through to attracting the necessary investment along the way.

UDCs remain under-used, and this may be due to reluctance from local authorities to hand over control of regeneration schemes. However, both developers and councils need to tap into their value, as UDCs could dramatically speed up delivery if embraced earlier in the process.

Although under-used, UDCs are not new or untested – for example, the London Docklands Development Corporation was a UDC established in 1981 to regenerate the derelict London Docklands, which included Canary Wharf, into the thriving financial hub and business district it is today.

“As sales rates drop and first-time buyers struggle to secure housing deposits, the government needs to go much further than simply setting national housing targets and boosting construction”

While the report spotlights these valuable areas of focus, including community engagement, masterplanning and leveraging of UDCs, there is one overarching barrier that continues to be brushed under the rug – changing political priorities. This remains, ultimately, the most stubborn obstacle to the delivery of regeneration projects, as planning systems remain constrained despite government promises, and as major schemes repeatedly stall due to shifts in national policy or local leadership.

As sales rates drop and first-time buyers struggle to secure housing deposits, the government needs to go much further than simply setting national housing targets and boosting construction. Instead, the focus needs to shift to injecting real confidence and funding into the housing market; this could be done by finding ways to incentivise first-time buyers, reviewing the funding model for developers and keeping a streamlined planning system at the top of the agenda, irrespective of the party in term.

A consistent political focus on housing and development will make or break the success of new towns. Without this, shifting goalposts will continue to hinder housing and regeneration progress, before it has the chance to make a real impact.

Neil Gosling, partner and head of living, Shakespeare Martineau