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Getty ImagesWork on a number of new towns will begin before the next general election after more than 100 locations across England were put forward, Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook has pledged.
Most proposals are for extensions to existing towns or cities, alongside proposals for new standalone settlements.
The aim is for each new town to have at least 10,000 homes, contributing towards the 1.5 million Labour has pledged to get built by 2029.
Each will include affordable housing, and infrastructure such as transport, GP surgeries, schools and green spaces, ministers have said.
A visit by the PM to promote the scheme was cut short on Thursday morning when farmers driving tractors staged a noisy protest.
The tractors’ musical horns could be heard blaring across the building site shortly after Sir Keir Starmer arrived.
It is the latest in a series of protests mounted by farmers against changes to inheritance tax on farms announced at October’s Budget.
Creating a new generation of new towns is a key element of the government’s long-term plan for housebuilding, and part of its efforts to unlock economic growth.
More than 100 potential sites across England have been suggested to a special taskforce set up to examine the options, after the government asked for expressions of interest from councils, housing developers and landowners.
The sites have not been revealed, but London, the South East, the South West and the east of England have proved the most popular – though there were expressions of interest from every region.
The taskforce will identify specific locations – as well as funding options – by the summer, with a view to construction on the first sites beginning by the time of the next election.
ReutersPennycook told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme the aim was to build “well-designed, affordable, attractive homes” that would “eventually house millions of people just as the post-War waves of new towns did”.
He described it as a “transformational programme” that he expected to “make a contribution to housing numbers in this Parliament”.
However, speaking on Sky News, he conceded: “These things take time to get off the ground. No one’s pretending that the new towns programme is going to make up the bulk of that 1.5 million number.
“We’re relying on the other changes we’ve made, including overhauling the national planning policy framework to get new sites coming through.”
He said he expected some of the construction to take place on greenfield – or undeveloped – land, but there would also be “big expansions of existing towns and cities where that is appropriate”.
“There’s got to be sustainable places, as I say, they’ve got to be well-connected, well-designed.”
The Conservatives seized on the new towns announcement to attack the government on immigration.
Shadow housing secretary Kevin Hollinrake accused Labour of being unwilling to cut immigration, adding this would “do nothing to address the shortage of housing”.
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