The government’s renewed enthusiasm for building new towns may make for bold headlines, but it risks missing the people who need housing most. Even senior planners involved in the postwar new towns programme have warned that the current proposals lack ambition on social housing and may not reach those in greatest need (Key figures in creation of Milton Keynes criticise UK’s new towns plan, 25 December). Other analyses suggest that new towns have historically contributed only a small proportion of the homes required and are unlikely to deliver at the scale ministers claim.
Instead of pouring resources into speculative new settlements, we should focus on the towns and cities we already have – places with infrastructure, identity and communities that are being steadily hollowed out. Across the UK, redundant land, vacant upper floors, derelict retail units and brownfield sites offer enormous potential for affordable, well‑located homes. This approach would deliver housing faster and more sustainably, and in ways that strengthen existing communities rather than displacing them.
