Today, Labour has launched its plan for a New Towns Code to set the standards for large new developments in the United Kingdom. At Create Streets we have responded to Labour’s call for beautiful new homes with our report ‘Becoming a nation of Townbuilders’ where we demonstrate how locally popular design could help to boost housing delivery in three typical scenarios, by applying ‘gentle density’ – the higher level of density associated with our historic towns and cities, with more terraces and mansion blocks.
These scenarios can deliver more homes on less land than the conventional volume housebuilder model, thereby reducing the impact of development on the environment and the landscape, creating local economic growth and allowing residents to move around in a lower-carbon, more affordable ways.
Our key principles for design to drive better growth across new town building:
- Town first, not field-led approach to site selection.
- Gentle density development of three to eight storeys.
- Vision-led, not prediction-led transport planning.
- Mixed-use, combining offices, commercial and residential in the same neighbourhoods.
- Area-wide design coding to unlock and empower small and medium builders and selfbuild.
Find full coverage in The Times here and the short report here.
Our chair, Nicholas Boys Smith also discussed new towns on BBC Radio 4 PM on 25 July 2024