Placemaking ideas wanted for new towns
Lord Ben Gascoigne, chair of the House of Lords’ built environment committee, wants regional voices to be heard when it comes to establishing the essential components for creating a thriving community.
The House of Lords is looking into placemaking best practice for its upcoming report New Towns: Building Communities. This will encourage the government to look past housing numbers to see what else is required to make these areas truly liveable.
While the exact locations of the government’s new towns and urban extensions has yet to be released – the running shortlist includes Victoria North in Manchester, Adlington in Cheshire East, and Leeds South Bank – the House of Lords is keen for government to get a framework in place to provide a strong sense of how these communities will be delivered.
A self-described “proud Lancastrian”, Gascoigne told Place North he was particularly keen to have Northerners contribute to the report, which will delve into design, green space, infrastructure, and aesthetics.
“Anyone and everyone can give their views,” he said. “What we want is a real understanding of what drives the success of a site and what is actually required on a site rather than idealistic notions.”
The committee’s call for evidence ends on 1 December. The first evidence session is being held today, with representatives from the Crown Estate, Home Building Federation, and Augarde & Partners weighing in.
Gascoigne and his fellow committee members have already spent a considerable amount of time thinking about new towns. Building Communities will be the second new towns report for the group, which had released its first report, New Towns: Laying the Foundations, on 25 October.
Building from several months of discussions, hearings, and investigations, Laying the Foundations laid out a series of recommendations to government on how to ensure that this latest crop of new towns thrive.
The new towns programme, according to Gascoigne, is “exciting” – and new towns in principle have gathered bipartisan support.
Gascoigne himself is a Conservative peer. Prior to being awarded his title in 2022, he was the deputy chief of staff for then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Gascoigne commended Keir Starmer’s Labour government for committing to the new town idea.
Now, he said, the government needs to signal that it is in for the long haul when it comes to seeing the communities delivered – especially considering they can be economic drivers and points of investment for the areas outside of London.
“For me, personally, I would say and I can say this as a Northerner and a proud Lancastrian – it’s important from a taxpayer point of view that these new towns are successful,” Gascoigne told Place. “That requires not only money but also time for them to come to their real fruition. There is no point coming to this project unless there’s a real commitment from the country as a whole.”
He added later: “Having been in Downing Street myself, [new towns] will require time and effort. It’s not something you can just hope will happen.”
To that end, one of the House of Lords’ recommendations was for the establishment of a cabinet-level minister position who was dedicated to new towns.
“If there is not national leadership and ownership to drive this agenda from the very top, it will face many problems,” Gascoigne warned. “I do respect Minister Pennycook and Baroness Taylor, who are genuinely committed to this agenda, but you need the Treasury – they are the ones who run the show.
“You need to get them to put money directly into a scheme to not only demonstrate they support it but to display confidence from an investment point of view.”
Gascoigne is, accordingly, hopeful there will be a mention of new towns in the upcoming Autumn Budget.
“Up to now the government has shown not only interest, but a real keenness to drive this agenda forward,” he said. The Budget provides an opportunity to translate that enthusiasm into action.
“A demonstration of support in the Budget doesn’t need to manifest in pure financial terms,” Gascoigne said. “It can be underwriting or, in effect, displaying to investors that these projects do have government support.”
Then it is time to embrace ambition.
Gascoigne and the House of Lords’ built environment committee believe these new towns should be exemplars in development and design.
“We should aim for the highest standard,” Gascoigne said.
He acknowledged that beauty is subjective.
“Fundamentally, you’re not going to make every single school 100% successful for 100% of the people,” he said. “That’s just the way life goes. However, it’s equally important that whatever is designed and what is intended needs to be seen through.”
The House of Lords’ New Towns: Building Communities is due to be published in the new year – around the same time housing minister Pennycook aims to reveal the finalised list of new towns. To get involved and share your thoughts on what makes for a vibrant community, go to committees.parliament.uk/call-for-evidence/3774.
