You are viewing 1 of your 1 free articles
Five new ‘garden towns’ to share government funding
The government has announced five new ‘garden towns’ across England that will benefit from a share of £3.7m of public money to unlock the development of 64,000 homes.
The new communities – in Berkshire, Hertfordshire, Essex, Gloucestershire and Staffordshire – will receive funding to fast-track specialist survey work and planning works necessary for each new town’s development.
The money can be spent by councils to help deliver the homes and infrastructure needed for neighbouring communities and future residents.
More than 100 councils and groups from around the country submitted proposals to the government last year in a bid to access the funding. Garden towns are defined as new settlements with more than 10,000 homes.
READ MORE
Housing minister Kit Malthouse said: “These new towns will not only provide homes for families, but will be vibrant communities where everyone, including neighbouring communities, can benefit from new infrastructure – leaving a legacy for future generations to be proud of.”
The government’s push to establish new communities comes as it tries to meet its pledge to build 300,000 homes each year.
The five new schemes announced today will join the 23 existing garden communities that the government has already backed.
Garden communities can take the form of new villages, towns or cities and have the potential to deliver homes at an increased scale, which in turn ministers hope will boost the local economy and create new jobs.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is also expected to announce further successful bids for garden communities in the coming weeks.
Garden Towns
Five successful funding bids were announced on 26 March. These are:
- Grazeley Garden Settlement, delivering up to 15,000 homes
- Hemel Garden Communities, delivering up to 11,000 homes
- Easton Park Garden Community, North Uttlesford Garden Community and West of Braintree Garden Community, an opportunity to deliver up to 18,500 homes
- Tewkesbury Ashchurch Garden Community, delivering up to 10,195 homes
- Meecebrook, in the north of Stafford borough, delivering around 10,000 homes
The five new schemes announced will join the 23 existing garden communities that the government has already backed.
These are located at:
- Bicester
- Didcot
- Basingstoke
- Otterpool Park in Kent
- Aylesbury
- Taunton
- Harlow-Gilston
- North Essex
- North Northamptonshire Garden Villages
- Long Marston in Stratford-on-Avon
- Oxfordshire Cotswold in West Oxfordshire
- Tresham in East Northants
- Culm in Mid Devon
- Welborne near Fareham in Hampshire
- West Carclaze in Cornwall
- Dunton Hills near Brentwood, Essex
- Spitalgate Heath in South Kesteven District, Lincolnshire
- Halsnead in Knowsley, Merseyside
- Longcross in Runnymede and Surrey Heath
- Bailrigg in Lancaster
- Infinity Garden Village in South Derbyshire and Derby City area
- St Cuthberts near Carlisle City, Cumbria
- Handforth in Cheshire East
