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.
When are we scrapping this unelected chamber?
By Anonymous
I disagree that beauty is subjective
By Rye
@ November 04, 2025 at 10:16 am By Rye. Well that’s your opinion and a subjective one
By Jeremy Irony
Hi ya, Rye, Yes, some buildings are ugly. Some are functional boxes. And some, mostly older buildings, are it is generally agreed, enjoyable. Why do many folk visit places like York or market towns built before the Industrial Revolution? Yet, how few folk go on day trips to Telford or Milford Keynes? You see? Build thorps, villages, small towns, but never again mega-housing estates.
By James Yates
Jeremy Irony
How about the emerging field of neuroaesthetics
Or the point James Yates has made even?
By Rye
“Lord Ben Gascoigne” – a career Tory boy that got given a life peerage when Boris was sacked. He’s not wrong, though – Labour and their builder buddies want to create giant splats of cheap houses; what should be done is almost the opposite.
By John Smith
How about Blackpool.. Blackpool needs investment.. Manchester .. Cheshire
. Leeds are all just fine.. they will attract it on their own
. Or better still near Bradford..dewsbury..etc
No beggar wants to go there
By Anonymous
Gentle density, decent brick buildings, shared green space and minimal cars is the way to go.
By Urbano
Re: New Towns,
I have never seen a successful New Town, take Warrington and Runcorn as examples in the North. They have recently been called the deprived areas of the country! Milton Keynes in the South. I also believe the current Build baby build slogan is exactly that …. A slogan! England needs to maintain its green and pleasant lands and not become one urban sprawl after another. I am reading that farmland is being surrendered by a significant amounts. Where is our food coming from? Where do people go for respite from urbanization and its harmful environmental aspects? What do Green policies even mean anymore?
If there is an insistence to build then sites like Victoria in Manchester and the Leeds site already have infrastructure and can provide work for its residents. Adlington in the other hand has no infrastructure , no work for the proposed new town, the Macclesfield hospital is also on top 6 hospitals that has an A& E that is totally overwhelmed with waiting over 10 hours and side wards created on the corridors of A&E! The roads in the area cannot take traffic for over another 20k cars , it’s just madness! As for the 9 farms , some of which provide milk for Sainsburys- what about support for farmers for a change! There is flood risk on this land even with trees and fields, imagine if it was concrete – no where for water to go! There are also protected trees that have to be considered. I have also learnt that builders usually run out of money before they provide promised infrastructure. If it had to be…then provide infrastructure first, provide needed hospitals first. Put the money where the mouth is!! You bet developers will walk away!
Please do not forget the wildlife that is displaced and the frustration of local residents who have to live with the mess that a new town will bring to an area like Adlington.
Sincerely,
Lorraine Moore
Putting that aside ,
By Lorraine Moore
Whilst looking at all the details of ensuring these ‘New Towns’ have everything they need, there is a total disregard for the surrounding semi rural villages and thier residents. It will not benefit any of us, we don’t want it and it is not needed! Without infrastructure and facilities being in order first, why would you introduce 40,000 more residents to a struggling area? It will cause huge traffic delays and pollution and what about the little wildlife we have left! Greenbelt should remain as it’s intended purpose, which was to stop urban spread. We all live here or like myself moved this area because of the surrounding greenbelt, to get away from big towns and cities. If the greenbelt is not safe, farming land and wildlife sanctuary, we have nothing left to give
By Julie
I can only comment on the Adlington Newtown proposal as this is the area I live in. To build on this land will remove the last section of unspoiled green space and farmland that prevents all the towns from Macclesfield and the Southwest of Manchester from joining up with the Greater Manchester built up area. It is a popular recreation area for walkers, cyclists, horse riders and families from those same built up areas – it’s an escape to the country. Studies now show that breathing in clean air, enjoying SEEING and walking in Nature are beneficial to our mental as well as physical health. They reconnect us to Nature, when living in towns disconnects us and is detrimental to our mental health. The green views are fantastic for our mental well-being and I would think that when mental health services are under stress and so expensive to provide, the destruction of this fantastic location and its valuable farmland are just an insult to folks who are trying to make the best of living in homes surrounded by buildings, roads and concrete. It is not just the residents of Adlington that will suffer, but ALL the surrounding villages and towns which do not have the infrastructure or indeed the WILL to support this awful project.
This is the worst possible site anyone could have picked.
By Denise Gurney
Brownfield sites first , not green belt farmland .
The towns that already exist should be regenerated first .
By Kate Collins
Not in Adlington mate.
By Anonymous
What makes a successful development ? One that complements and brings together small local communities…that has future-proof infrastructure including transport ,schools and hospitals; and one that respects and aims to protect adjacent green areas of beauty and connectivity. So please review the Adlington proposal which will be at huge detriment to green corridors and farming while the impact on existing service infrastructure for ECheshire and Stockport will be disastrous. However good the intentions this is not the right choice of site for major development. I am not a local ‘NIMBY’ but live in the adjacent Stockport conurbation.
By Wendy Makin