“Good – But We Must Be Bolder”
For The Benefit Of Our Future Communities
“New Towns will only succeed if they are built with communities, not imposed on them. Without community-led housing and stewardship from the outset, we risk repeating past failures.”
Welcoming key points in the report
The Community Led Housing (CLH) sector welcomes the New Towns Taskforce Report and its recognition that the next generation of New Towns must embed diversity, stewardship, and community involvement from the outset.
We particularly welcome the following recommendations:
- Opportunities for community led housing in every New Town;
- Clear stewardship models with local accountability;
- Community empowerment through community led housing, community gardens, and local societies;
- Allocation of smaller sites for councils, Community Land Trusts, and other community developers.
Community Led Housing in New Towns
These recommendations align with the CLT Network and UK Cohousing Network’s Community Led Housing in New Towns report (2024), which shows how CLH delivers high-quality, affordable homes and creates resilient, adaptable places over the long term. This is already happening in large developments like Northstowe (cohousing and stewardship of green spaces)and Kennet Garden Village (stewardship of green spaces, amenities and affordable homes) and we have just seen the announcement of new custom build and cohousing at Festival Gardens in Liverpool.
These examples prove CLH is not an add-on, but a tested route to lasting value in large-scale growth.
To secure these benefits, the government must go further.
Unless above recommendations are made explicit in guidance and policy, there is a real risk they will be overlooked.
Our Recommendations
- CLH representation on the minister’s advisory group which will be supporting the government’s New Towns Unit and Homes England in a new delivery partnership.
- CLH representation on Development Corporation boards, embedding housing diversification in decision-making.
- Clear targets and delivery routes for CLH and custom build sites to be required in the first 12 New Towns.
- Ring-fenced funding for CLH organisations and stewardship bodies, building on government commitments to invest in community assets and wealth-building initiatives.
- Community-led stewardship as the default model, ensuring local influence in long-term governance.
- Investment in more specialist CLH developers through the government’s Long Term Housing Strategy, enabling a more diverse approach in new towns
A once-in-a-generation opportunity,
New Towns present a once-in-a-generation opportunity, not just for increasing the pace of housing delivery but for experimenting and innovating with new ideas and developing new skills and attitudes to the making of new places. By going further than the Taskforce’s recommendations—embedding CLH explicitly in governance, land allocation, and funding—the government can ensure New Towns deliver not just thriving, adaptable, and resilient communities for decades to come, but a popular way of building new places that citizens will demand is used for their communities.
Call to Action:
We urge the Secretary of State and relevant ministers to go beyond the Taskforce’s recommendations and make community-led housing and stewardship explicit requirements in New Town policy and delivery. Without this bold step, the opportunity to build places that last will be lost. With it, New Towns can become genuine assets for communities and the nation for generations to come. The Government will set out its fuller response to the Taskforce in the spring, and we will be lobbying for this response to drive this opportunity.