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Chair of English Cities Fund to spearhead New Towns taskforce
Sir Michael Lyons, chair of the English Cities Fund, is to lead an expert panel charged with driving forward the development of sizeable new settlements across the UK.
Angela Rayner, the deputy prime minister and housing secretary, said the regeneration tsar would chair a New Towns taskforce set up to find the “right places” to build communities.
Labour set out plans for a wave of New Towns, including affordable housing, at a property event in Leeds in May.
Now in government, the party has appointed Sir Michael to drive the next stage in this process, alongside deputy Dame Kate Barker, a former non-executive director of Taylor Wimpey, the house builder.
Last week, Dame Kate laid out her initial recommendations from a new housing review in a memorandum to Matthew Pennycook, the housing minister, 20 years after her landmark Review of Housing Supply.
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On Sir Michael’s new appointment, Ms Rayner said on Wednesday: “Our New Towns will deliver housing fit for the future, shaping new communities with real character that people can be proud to call home.
“With Sir Michael in the driving seat, I know his taskforce will work together with local people to help us decide on the right places for these New Towns, delivering more homes, jobs and green spaces.
“We are getting Britain building again and our long-term vision for a new generation of New Towns will enrich the lives of working people in the years to come.”
The government said each New Town would create a community of at least 10,000 homes, with many “significantly larger”.
While the programme will include large standalone communities, most of the schemes are expected to be urban extensions and regeneration projects.
Dame Kate added: “I am enthusiastic about working with Sir Michael on proposals for the New Towns badly needed to enable more households to live in homes where they can flourish. It will be vital to ensure the locations will also support economic growth over coming decades.”
A New Towns Code will ensure developments are well-connected, well-designed, sustainable and attractive places, ministers said.
They will also “target” rates of 40% affordable housing, with a “focus” on “genuinely affordable” social rented homes.
The taskforce will present a final shortlist of recommendations on appropriate locations to ministers within 12 months.
Sir Michael said: “A new generation of New Towns and large-scale urban extensions could play a significant role in the government’s plans for economic growth, as well as offering new homes on an ambitious scale.
“I am proud to lead the New Towns taskforce to make sure New Towns deliver on the government’s vision and meet the needs of local people.
“Our mission begins today and we will work closely with local leaders and their communities, as well as the wider development and investment sectors, to make sure these New Towns are built in the right places.”
In June, Sir Michael told delegates at Housing 2024 that the UK’s failure to build enough housing had left a generation feeling “betrayed”.
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