The New Towns Taskforce is chaired by former Birmingham City Council chief executive Sir Michael Lyons, with economists Dame Kate Barker as his deputy.
The government says that while the new towns programme will include large-scale new communities that are separate from existing settlements, most of them will be urban extensions and regeneration schemes that will “work with the grain of development in any given area”.
The new communities will be governed by a ‘New Towns Code’ – a set of rules that developers will have to meet to make sure new towns are well-connected, well-designed, sustainable and attractive places where people want to live. A target of 40% affordable housing has been set, with a focus on “genuinely affordable” social rented homes.
The taskforce has been told to present a final shortlist of recommendations on appropriate locations to ministers within 12 months.
Deputy prime minister Angela Rayner said: “Our new towns will deliver housing fit for the future, shaping new communities with real character that people can be proud to call home.
“With Sir Michael in the driving seat, I know his taskforce will work together with local people to help us decide on the right places for these new towns, delivering more homes, jobs and green spaces.”
Sir Michael Lyons said: “A new generation of new towns and largescale urban extensions could play a significant role in the government’s plans for economic growth as well as offering new homes on an ambitious scale.
“Our mission begins today and we will work closely with local leaders and their communities as well as the wider development and investment sectors to make sure these new towns are built in the right places.”
Municipal leaders are also receiving new powers from Whitehall over planning, skills, transport, employment and streamlined funding settlements, backed by a new English Devolution Bill announced in the King’s Speech.
Sir Michael Lyons previously headed a housing commission in 2014 for the then Labour Party leader Ed Miliband and is non-executive chairman of the English Cities Fund. He was chairman of the BBC from 2007 to 2011.
Dame Kate Barker is on the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee and conducted a review of UK housing supply for then prime minister Tony Blair in 2004 and a review of land use planning in 2006. She was a non-executive director of house-builder Taylor Wimpey from 2011 to 2020 and from 2017 to 2020 was a member of the National Infrastructure Commission.
