Reeves examines using private sector funds to speed building of new towns

Rachel Reeves’s Treasury said it was not bringing back the old PFI model. Photograph: Jonathan Brady/PA

Rachel Reeves is examining how to attract funds from private investors to accelerate the government’s development of new towns in England.

The chancellor has begun talks with some of the UK’s biggest banks and investment funds about building infrastructure for new towns based on public-private partnerships (PPP) – a successor to the much-criticised Tony Blair-era private finance initiative (PFI).