Call to build a new generation of Garden Cities

Published by Fiona Mannion for TCPA in Housing and also in Central Government, Communities, Local Government

A new report by the Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) calls for Britain to re-discover its planning heritage in creating high quality, beautiful and inclusive places. ‘Re-imagining Garden Cities for the 21^st Century’, supported by Land Securities, argues that we must re-discover and re-imagine the garden city principles if we are to overcome the stigma of building new communities that has come from too many poor developments with inadequate infrastructure provision.

Welcoming the report, Lord Matthew Taylor of Goss Moor, author of the ‘Taylor Review’ (and now Chair of the Rural Coalition and Chair of the National Housing Federation) said:

“Re-establishing great planning based on building flourishing attractive new communities and neighbourhoods is the best way to deliver great 21^st century sustainable developments. There is an urgent need to return to the principles of planning for communities, to re-connect people and planning and realise the Government’s localism ambitions, in contrast to ad hoc piecemeal developments. The Garden Cities were fired by a sense of idealism and enthusiasm, with numerous voluntary organisations. Today, we can go further, placing local people at the heart of the process from the outset in order to shape our new communities and put in place long term community governance models.”

 Dr Hugh Ellis, TCPA Chief Planner said:

“Today’s housing challenge is compounded by a financial crisis and an ageing population, as well as new global pressures from climate change and economic restructuring. We must find a way to move forward into a new era of building attractive, resilient and sustainable places. Where better to start this journey than to rediscover and re-imagine the high-quality, collaborative and pioneering spirit of the Garden Cities for the 21st century.”

“We need a radical culture change which enables communities, local authorities, developers and central government to work together to build villages, towns and cities for the future. We must forge a new relationship between people and planning and find ways to combine the best of what we have achieved in the past with answers to the modern challenge of creating sustainable, democratic communities which truly place local people at centre stage”.

Emma Cariaga, Development Director at Land Securities said:

“Planning a new community from scratch, rather than a piecemeal approach, offers a unique opportunity to deliver much needed housing in a holistic and comprehensive way. Not only can this deliver more housing with much less environmental impact it presents the prospect to work with local people from the start to shape their new village or town.  We should not underestimate the economic growth and job creation that new communities can generate through their delivery and in creating new business hubs.”

The report makes recommendations under the themes of governance, masterplanning and implementation for bringing forward attractive, resilient and sustainable new communities. It also argues that although the current economic conditions make large-scale investment opportunities look bleak, where council leaders and local people have identified the need for more housing, new communities could be a positive part of the solution because:

• New, innovative financial models are emerging, including Government incentives and new financial mechanisms ranging from tax increment finance to local ownership of utility companies.
• There is renewed interest from the public and private sectors in comprehensively planned development, rather than a piecemeal approach that could damage environmental assets.
• There is a desire to spread the benefits and risks of development in public-private partnerships.
• The new Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) could make the case for new and expanded villages, towns and cities by linking housing to economic growth and jobs.