Government urged to create up to 40 garden cities

5 Sep 14
The next government should introduce legislation to allow as many as 40 cities in England to expand for over a period of 35 years into garden cities that would house more than 150,000 additional people each.

By Richard Johnstone | 5 September 2014

The next government should introduce legislation to allow as many as 40 cities in England to expand for over a period of 35 years into garden cities that would house more than 150,000 additional people each.

The proposal by David Rudlin of the urban design consultancy URBED was announced last night as the winner of the £250,000 Wolfson Economics Prize 2014, from the five shortlisted entries.

Rudlin said cities such as Northampton, Norwich, Oxford, Rugby, Reading and Stafford, could benefit from garden city status as this could regenerate town centres and provide local growth. He said it was also the best way to protect the countryside for development.

Under the plans, towns should be permitted to bid for garden city status under a Garden Cities Act, with ministers providing successful applications with financial guarantees to allow development to take place.

Expansions should be linked to the city centre by a tram or bus rapid transit and should include what the proposal called ‘walkable’ green neighbourhoods, with at least 20% of new homes being affordable.

Rudlin said the expansion of existing places to create Garden Cities has the potential to make a significant contribution to meeting future housing needs.

Prize founder Lord (Simon) Wolfson of Aspley Guise, added there was an urgent need to build more houses and great places in Britain.

‘I am delighted that this year’s Wolfson Economics Prize has generated so many powerful and creative proposals for new garden cities.’
However, responding to the award, housing minister Brandon Lewis said the winning proposal was ‘not government policy and will not be taken up’.

He added: ‘Instead, we stand ready to work with communities across the country who have ideas for a new generation of garden cities and we have offered support to areas with locally-supported plans that come forward. But we do not intend to follow the failed example of top-down eco-towns from the last administration.

‘Picking housing numbers out of thin air and imposing them on local communities builds nothing but resentment. This government has abolished regional quangos’ role in planning - instead, we have empowered elected local councils to determine where new homes should and shouldn’t go.’

He highlighted that the government had already worked with local councils and residents to develop plans for a garden city in Ebbsfleet, which will deliver up to 15,000 new homes.

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