The latest news on the Affordable Homes Programme and new towns brings some hopeful signs

It also recalls the last couple of years of the previous Labour government, when regular announcements of extra investment added up to something more significant over time. 

“We have also been here before with seemingly bold announcements on eco-towns, garden villages and the like that have led precisely nowhere”

Next up, and more for the long term, is the announcement that more than 100 sites across England have been put forward as candidates for the next generation of new towns. This also has to be put in perspective, since this new generation seems unlikely to resemble the new towns developed from the 1940s to the 1970s, either in scale or potential for social housing.  

We have also been here before with seemingly bold announcements on eco-towns, garden villages and the like that have led precisely nowhere. Although, this one is backed up by some solid announcements on the New Towns Accelerator programme and Building Safety Regulator. 

These new towns could be urban extensions as well as free-standing settlements, so they should not take as long to get off the ground. They could draw on lessons from successful new districts of existing towns, such as Poundbury in Dorset and Nansledan in Cornwall (visited by Sir Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner with the King this week).

However, each of the new ‘new towns’ will have the potential to deliver 10,000 new homes, making them twice as big. 

All this was meant to be formally announced by the prime minister on a visit to a housebuilding site in Milton Keynes on Thursday, but he had to leave without taking questions after a noisy protest by farmers.  

Decades of unfulfilled promises and hi-vis photo opportunities from politicians from both main parties suggest a need for caution about the prospects, and you sense that progress will depend on a period of political stability such as we have not seen for a decade. 

Even then, a dozen new towns with 10,000 homes each would mean 120,000 new homes in total over a decade or more. However it’s easily forgotten that the post-war new towns did not contribute a huge share of housing supply, either.   

As a demonstration of intent, there were some promising signs from housing minister Matthew Pennycook in an interview on the Today programme on Thursday.

Though he insisted that the new towns programme will contribute to the 1.5 million homes target for this parliament, the point surely is to sustain that over a longer period.

“It’s easily forgotten that the post-war new towns did not contribute a huge share of housing supply”

On funding, Mr Pennycook sounded confident when he said “the Spending Review will outline how the government will stand behind that”.  

Another hopeful sign came in a column in The Times from Simon Jenkins attacking plans for new homes between Oxford and Cambridge. 

When it comes to housing, it’s a fair rule of thumb that you should do the opposite of what ‘Simon says’. Go back 70 years and there were protests about the creation of ‘Silkingrad’ (named after planning minister Lewis Silkin) in what went on to become Stevenage, so we should be just as happy with Starmerville. 

An interim report from the New Towns Taskforce was published this week, with the final report and shortlist of sites due to be delivered to ministers in the summer.  

That will also have to include answers to some of the fundamental questions posed in the interim report about long-term funding, land acquisition and land value capture that will be required if new towns are to be more than just window-dressing for private development led by volume house builders.