New towns in Manchester and Cheshire East make govt shortlist

Manchester City Council and FEC’s 15,000-home Victoria North and the 20,000-home Adlington were two of 12 areas recommended by the New Towns Taskforce to receive backing from Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government.

The taskforce had been charged with crafting a list of places where government intervention could lead to the development of a minimum of 10,000 homes – of which 40% would be affordable, with half of those available for social rent.

Steve Reed MP, secretary of state for the Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government, announced the taskforce’s recommendation at the Labour Party conference on Sunday. Labour will aim to start building at least three new towns during this Parliament.

The 12 recommended towns are a mixture of standalone settlements and urban extensions, with most located in the South. In addition to Victoria North and Adlington, the only other Northern bid to make the list was Leeds South Bank.

Of the 12, government noted in a press release that Leeds South Bank, Crews Hill in Enfield, and Tempsford in Central Bedfordshire had the most potential.

However, none of the 12’s status as future new towns is set in stone. They must each undergo a strategic environmental assessment in the spring. The results of the SEA could change the shortlist even more, with some proposed locations being cut.

Those that are eventually selected will receive support from the government in speeding up delivery. They could also become hotbeds for testing, in order to figure out the best way to deliver housing projects at scale.

“New towns are going to be a legacy from this government and our time as leaders collectively of the Labour Party of the future,” Reed told a gathering of local government officials during conference on Sunday.

He added later that he was committed to the 1.5m-homes housing target. To achieve that he pledged: “I will get the barriers out of the way. I will get rocket boosters behind what we need to do. We will get those homes built because our residents demand it and they deserve it and they need it.”

Secretary of state Steve Reed attended a Labour YIMBY rally on Sunday. Credit: PNW

Victoria North

Victoria North may seem like an odd inclusion in the recommendation list, seeing as work is well underway on the project – including the handover of its first 130 social-rent homes at the Victoria North neighbourhood of Collyhurst.

The project comprises 380 acres of brownfield land northeast of Manchester city centre. Manchester City Council is co-delivering Victoria North with its development partner FEC. Together they hope to build 15,000 homes, a health centre, a primary and a secondary school, a variety of shops, and a 99-acre park across seven distinct neighbourhoods. There would also be a new Metrolink station: Sandhills.

Of those 15,000 homes, 430 have been completed and 550 are on site. There is already planning permission in place for an additional 4,801.

Manchester City Council Leader Cllr Bev Craig explained how new town status would help speed up construction, especially if it came with financial support and administrative fast tracking.

“Our pitch is 15,000 homes,” she told Place North West. “It would have been something that could be achieved over the next 20 to 25 years without government support.

“What we’re saying is that as part of the new towns programme is that actually it’s much more achievable within two Parliaments, so that is what has got traction.”

The taskforce report delivered this verdict on the project: “A new town in Victoria North would recognise, at a national level, the potential Manchester has long seen in the area, and offer clear support to their ambitious plans to deliver both large numbers of homes at pace and the supporting infrastructure they need.

“But it would also acknowledge the potential complications brownfield sites can have, commit government to help solving them, and provide the certainty needed that future phases could continue to move forward…

“The successful regeneration of Victoria North would demonstrate how the public and private sector can work together to tackle complex regeneration challenges, and in a way which could be replicable up and down the country.”

When questioned as to why Victoria North wasn’t highlighted as one of the scheme’s with the most potential, Craig smirked.

“You’re at a political conference so you’ll hear political examples,” she said.

Adlington

The landowners of 2,400 acres of greenfield are behind the proposal for a new standalone town in Cheshire East. Belport Adlington pitched a 14,000-20,000-home community called Adlington after the train station that currently exists there.

The taskforce noted that a new Cheshire East town would help the area grow its housing supply and diversify its housing mix, making the residential market more resilient. Viability, the taskforce continued, was also likely to be high as house prices in Cheshire East are 43% above the regional average, as of May.

As a greenfield site, there would also be little land remediation required so construction could begin in earnest. However, it would require substantial transport infrastructure, including the improvement of its roads and the incorporation of Adlington Station into local bus networks.

The taskforce concluded: “Adlington offers a unique opportunity for the government to be truly instrumental in delivering a new town that would likely not exist without intervention, and the government should therefore ensure that it is positioned to reap the economic benefits afforded by possible designation.”

The New Towns Taskforce released a map showing where its shortlist of communities were based. Credit: MHCLG

The full list

Here is the full list of 12 recommendation locations for new towns, as written in the taskforce’s report.

• A standalone settlement in Adlington, Cheshire East; to serve the growing industries in Greater Manchester and Cheshire, as identified in the government’s Industrial Strategy.
• A corridor of connected development in South Gloucestershire, across Brabazon and the West Innovation Arc; building in one of the highest productivity areas in the country with a high value research, advanced engineering and technology economy.
• An expanded development bringing together Chase Park and Crews Hill in Enfield; delivering green development and helping address London’s acute housing need.
• Redevelopment of the former airbase at Heyford Park in Cherwell; connecting to Oxford and building on the existing progress and commitment to high-quality placemaking; referencing the area’s past and supporting its future in innovative technology industries.
• Urban development in Leeds; catalysing on the city’s existing economic prospects and capturing the benefits of the governments £2.1 billion local transport funding allocation for the Combined Authority by delivering well-connected, high-quality homes in the South Bank to support the city centre.
• Inner-city development and densification in Manchester, Victoria North; supporting continued growth and attracting high-skilled workers to service the city’s diverse industries.
• A standalone settlement in Marlcombe, East Devon; strengthening the region’s labour supply and supporting the Exeter and East Devon Enterprise Zone.
• A ‘Renewed Town’ in Milton Keynes; reinvigorating the city centre and expanding to the north and east whilst reshaping the way people travel, by delivering a Mass Rapid Transit system.
• Densified development in Plymouth; evolving Britain’s Ocean City and capitalising on the government’s £4.4 billion investment in HMNB Devonport, Western Europe’s largest naval base.
• A new settlement in Tempsford, Central Bedfordshire; to maximise the benefits of East West Rail by building a well-connected new town in the heart of the Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor.
• The creation of a riverside settlement in Thamesmead, Greenwich; unlocking inaccessible land in the city and improving connectivity if the proposed extension of the Docklands Light Railway can be delivered to enable the development.
• Expanded development at Worcestershire Parkway, Wychavon; accelerating delivery around the existing train station to help meet regional housing need and act as a model for sustainable, carbon neutral development.