Memorandum by the Department for Communities
and Local Government Committee
The Government welcomes the Committee's review
of progress on the issues raised in the The New Towns: Their
Problems and Future (HC 603-I, Session 2001-02). Earlier this
year, the Prime Minister announced the Government's plans for
housing growth—with a target of three million new homes
by 2020—and the introduction of legislation to create a
new homes agency. Earlier this month, Housing Minister Yvette
Cooper announced that the agency would be called the Homes and
Communities Agency reflecting its role in delivering new homes,
in regenerating existing communities and creating new ones
1. The TLGR Committee recommended an
urgent evaluation to identify good practice/mistakes made in the
New Towns project before any major new settlements were considered.
The Government agreed to a review of existing material as part
of a feasibility study, with a view to undertaking a more thematic
evaluation. The Committee understands that English Partnerships
commissioned a desk study of the available literature from Oxford
Brookes University which was published in 2006
a. What further research has been undertaken
as part of the feasibility study suggested in the Government response?
The Government commissioned Oxford Brookes University
to carry out a literature review of research and evaluation relating
to the New Towns programme. The brief included a requirement to
identify lessons and recommendations from the New Towns Programme
that were transferable to the development of the Growth Areas.
The study, `Transferable Lessons from the New Towns' was published
in 2006. A copy of the study is attached.
In addition to the Oxford Brookes study commissioned
by Communties And Local Government, English Partnerships (EP)
has done further research. EP has funded research by the Institute
for Public Policy Research, `From New Towns to Growth Areas: Learning
from the Past' which was published in May 2005. The paper draws
out key lessons from the New Towns experience which should be
considered in relation to the Growth Areas.
The policy context within which the New Towns
were built is very different from today, although much of what
they pioneered has been incorporated into mainstream thinking.
b. What progress has been made towards
commissioning the thematic evaluation mentioned in the Government
response?
Following on from the study `Transferable Lessons
from the New Towns', and in the light of the increasing need for
new homes built to high environmental standards, The Town and
Country Planning Association (TCPA) have been working with the
Government since 2006 on work to promote new settlements, and
recently, eco-towns. The TCPA have to date produced a Communties
And Local Government-sponsored guide `Best Practice in Urban Extensions
and New Settlements' in March 2007, and have published Eco-towns:
Scoping Report' in July 2007, as part of their programme of work,
supported by the Government, to advise on the delivery of eco-towns.
c. How have the results of such research
informed current policy development on issues such as affordable
housing (including the recent Housing Green Paper), growth areas,
eco-towns, further New Town schemes and urban and regional strategies
in general. How will such research feed into the implementation
of the recent Planning White Paper? It would be helpful if DCLG
could provide the Committee with a copy of the research commissioned
by English Partnerships from Oxford Brookes University.
Lessons from research that have a wider application
include:
The importance of regional and sub-regional
planning approaches in planning to identify the most sustainable
locations for development in strategic terms. Local authorities
have been encouraged to consider eco-towns and growth points proposals
in the context of work that has been taken forward to inform Regional
Spatial Strategies to date, and the requirements of PPS3 (Planning
Policy Statement 3) to maintain a rolling supply of housing, and
to undertake housing market assessments.
The significance of good partnership working.
The TCPA research provides a link from the new towns (and garden
cities before them) to options for development in the present,
with increasing emphasis on the model of public/private partnership,
for example in Upton, Northamptonshire. Partnership working is
a key feature of growth areas and growth points, with formal partnership
agreements underpinning programmes for sustainable development.
High environmental standards. Eco-towns
present a new opportunity to design an entire development with
the capability to reach zero-carbon standards, and can act as
exemplars to other development schemes. We have made it an essential
requirement for eco-towns that they fulfil this objective. Achieving
high environmental standards requires an integrated masterplanning
approach that takes account of location, links to nearby towns,
transport, community management of assets as well as design and
build. The previous research has highlighted case studies that
have demonstrated how such an integrated approach can help deliver
environmental goals.
The lessons drawn from the recent studies have
been of most direct relevance to the eco-towns/new settlement
programme, which was announced in March 2007, and further developed
in July 2007, with the launch of a Prospectus for eco-towns as
part of the package for the Housing Green Paper. Eco-towns represent
the opportunity to work to develop large-scale housing that achieves
a number of outcomes—including a suggested affordable housing
offer of 30-50%, high quality design and good facilities in a
distinct settlement, sustainable links to surrounding towns and
cities; and significantly, the opportunity to design in low and
zero carbon living from the start.
PPS3—Planning Policy Statement 3—provides
the planning framework to bring forward land for housing and for
delivering the Government's housing objectives. This new planning
for housing policy has been reinforced by the publication of the
Housing Green Paper. PPS3 is a critical element of our work to
improve the national policy framework—which was signallled
in the Planning White Paper—to ensure the planning system
is more responsive to addressing new challenges such as the need
for new housing.
The policies aim for a wide choice of high quality
homes—both affordable and market housing—and to create
sustainable, inclusive, mixed communities in all areas. Some of
the points made in the research have been considered as part of
the wider thinking in developing the new PPS3 policy approach.
The policy gives more responsibility than ever
before to local authorities to decide how and where new development
should be built, and gives them more flexibility to shape new
development according to the needs of their local areas, allowing
them to make decisions on where new housing should be located
in those areas.
2. The Committee recommended that non-strategic
sites currently owned by English Partnerships, should be transferred
immediately to local authorities and those of strategic importance,
to Regional Development Agencies. The Government Response stated
that it was not the Government's intention for English Partnerships
to divest itself of non-strategic assets but that it would work
to ensure their value in achieving the Government's objectives
were "realised to the full".
a) What proportion of strategic sites
held by EP in 2002 have been transferred to RDAs?
No strategic sites were transferred to the Regional
Development Agencies in accordance with the outcomes of the Quinquennial
Review of English Partnerships, announced on 24 July 2002. This
review charged EP with managing a portfolio of strategic sites,
and to take a key role in the delivery of the Deputy Prime Minister's
"living communities" agenda.
b) How successful has EP been in ensuring
the value of non-strategic sites? How has this been done?
Following the Quinquennial review of English
Partnerships in 2002 Government decided that it was no longer
in the public interest to divest English Partnerships of its non-strategic
assets to local authorities.
EP has ensured value by selling sites utilising
all standards and regulations operated by English Partnerships
including sustainability briefs, and competitive tenders. EP have
jointly sold sites with Local Authorities where they have land
interests and it is sensible, to maximise value to both parties.
These sales have realised in excess of £90m
of receipts over the last three and a half years. All are subject
to the appropriate approval/delegations imposed on any disposals.
Not all EP sites have a value. In some cases
smaller non-strategic sites such as highway verges and open space
are grouped into "parcels" negotiated with the local
authority or other recipient as a Community Related Asset (CRA).
The freehold of these sites as well as amenity land is transferred
to the recipient at nil cost accompanied by an endowment of cash
for the management and maintenance of these areas, so they are
not a burden to the recipient.
c) What potential is there for this asset
base to be exploited to support urban renewal and infrastructure
development in the New Towns?
In both its written and oral evidence, the Office
for the Deputy Prime Minister sought to address the desire of
the New Towns to be `normalised' and to ensure parity of treatment
with other local authorities in national programmes on housing,
regeneration and social inclusion.
English Partnerships retains assets within the
majority of the New Towns. In line with English Partnerships'
key principles and policy outcomes (to accelerate housing growth
and the reuse of brownfield land, to achieve comprehensive and
integrated regeneration) there will be considerable involvement
and development within New Town areas, continuing to work with
the Local Authorities to deliver their and Communties And Local
Government objectives. English Partnerships still has interests
of some kind in 21 New Towns in England, with the main land holdings
now in Milton Keynes, Telford, Warrington and Central Lancashire.
For example, EP has brought the following to New Towns:
—Millennium Communities in Milton
Keynes and Telford,
—the Urban Regeneration Company in
Corby,
—regeneration and renewal of Castlefields
in Runcorn,
—sustainable town extensions in Northampton
and Basildon
—town centre strategies for Telford
and Milton Keynes
—and the Milton Keynes Section 106
`tariff'.
The Woodside Regeneration Project is a housing
market renewal scheme located in south Telford. The 10 year project
centres on sustainable physical and social regeneration of a 1970s
estate originally developed on the failed Radburn principles.
The project area covers some 100 hectares including potential
development land and at the outset of the project contained approximately
2200 dwellings, of which 368 were deck accessed flats and maisonettes.
The project involves joint working and partnership between English
Partnerships, The Borough of Telford & Wrekin, The Wrekin
Housing Trust, The Housing Corporation, and Advantage West Midlands.
The Castlefields estate in Runcorn is typical
of the modern architecture-led New Town based on the Radburn model
of development. Over a period of time, since its completion in
the 1970s, the area experienced high turnover rates and low demand.
In 2002 the Castlefields Partnership, including English Partnerships
and Halton Borough Council, was created to deliver a comprehensive
regeneration approach. Particular key aims were highlighted, such
as the selective clearance of deck access blocks and replacement
with RSL (Registered Social Landlord) led affordable housing and
demolition of the existing poor quality local shopping centre
and replacement with new facilities. English Partnerships investment
has already contributed towards the cost of the demolition of
over 700 deck access flats. In addition EP has supported the removal
of the segregated bus way and construction of a new shared use
link road for buses, cars, pedestrians and cyclists to the proposed
new Village Square, public realm and pedestrian link improvements
such as new street lighting, closure of subways and replacement
with surface level crossings.
Three of the first housing estates built in
the New Town of Skelmersdale were Digmoor, Tanhouse and Birch
Green, providing approximately 7000 homes. The estates fall within
the 20% of most deprived wards and are rapidly achieving `sink'
status by the Local Authority and residents alike. EP retains
two allocated residential sites on the Digmoor and Birch Green
areas which could be incorporated into the Housing Renewal programme
for each and act as a catalyst for regeneration.
d) The Committee was critical of the
way in which EP worked with local authorities in the former New
Towns. How has EP's role in New Towns developed since 2002, what
is its current role in the co-ordination of regeneration and housing
strategies in former New Towns and how will this be affected by
the merger of the Housing Corporation and EP?
English Partnerships is now acting in partnership
or as facilitator with many of the Local Authorities. Identifying,
through jointly agreed strategies, how EP's assets may best be
used to meet local strategic goals. English Partnerships overall,
has a better, more productive relationship with Local Authorities
in the New Towns.
Town centre renewal projects EP is facilitating
include: Telford, Bletchley, Crawley, Welwyn, Harlow, Northampton.
Joint Venture with local partners: Milton Keynes, Stevenage, Northampton,
Welwyn, Lightmoor & East Ketley in Telford. Of 126 development
projects only 41 are not in new towns and many of these are in
growth areas nearby such as Bedford, Aylesbury, Luton, Kettering.
EP and their main partners, Milton Keynes Council
(MKC) work alongside each other to deliver key growth projects.
EP have supported negotiations with Government to provide MKC
with £3m funding to help deal with the impact of growth on
services and hope to provide ongoing support over a further two
to three years to ensure new posts are created to work alongside
the MKPC (Milton Keynes Partnership Committee) teams and other
partners.
In Northampton, the first demonstration of a
sustainable town extension is being undertaken in full partnership
with the local authority and other stakeholders.
EP has established a close and productive working
relationship with West Lancs District Council during the development
of proposals for Skelmersdale Town Centre, and as a result, WLDC
extended an invitation to EP to join a Technical Appraisal Team
formed to take forward the project on Tanhouse Estate.
A central part of the Growth Area proposals
is to work with local partners to agree the right local delivery
arrangements to reflect local needs. Local Delivery Vehicles (LDVs)—which
include EP—are being established in the Growth Areas to
drive forward the targeted investment and co-ordinated decision
making necessary to achieve the objectives of the Sustainable
Communities Plan. The LDVs take on different forms depending on
the particular circumstances in each of the development areas,
including Milton Keynes, Harlow and West Northamptonshire.
Our intention is that the Homes and Communities
Agency (HCA) will continue to build on the positive experiences
of partnership. It will work with Regional Development Agencies
helping to develop and deliver more integrated and better aligned
strategies for economic development, land and housing. It will
also be an expert delivery partner for Local Authorities, supporting
them in strategic place-making, helping to create and shape prosperous
and cohesive communities.
The HCA will be tasked to take an integrated
approach to housing and regeneration, and to respond positively
to partners in meeting the demands for decent places as well as
decent homes. This issue has been highlighted in our consultation
document and responses are currently being analysed.
e) How does the Government expect the
creation of the new housing and regeneration agency to benefit
New Towns in particular?
The creation of the HCA, which will work more
closely at a regional level with partners in other agencies, will
ensure growth and development are complementary and support the
priorities agreed in regional strategies. All places requiring
regeneration are important. Economic modelling suggests that creating
the new agency should create savings of over £1billion to
2013/14, compared to modernisation of existing structures. This
is based on recovery and recycling of efficiency savings throughout
the period.
This and other benefits garnered from the creation
of the new homes agency mean that it will be better able to support
work, including in the New Towns, than under the existing delivery
structures, offering a more holistic, supportive approach to place-making.
3. The Committee noted that low-density
development in the New Towns has created `major problems' in terms
of excessive dependence on the car for travel and poor public
transport provision. The Government's response was upbeat about
the improvements that could be made in the context of the then
new sustainable communities agenda, noting that the New Towns
in the Regional Planning Guidance 9 area in particular were capable
of further growth and development in a holistic way. It also notes
that Local Transport Plans, first produced in 2000, would set
out integrated transport solution for the New Towns.
a) To what extent has dependence on the
car for travel purposes in the New Towns declined since 2002?
How have these reductions been achieved?
The first and second generation New Towns were
designed to have a bespoke public transport system. In Milton
Keynes the grid roads were designed for fast, bus-based transport.
Density levels in the New Towns, like many other towns, are very
low. The New Towns were intended to give people clean air and
open space, as an alternative to the high density industrial cities.
The New Towns very much reflected best practice of their time.
Since the development of the New Towns the reducing cost of car
ownership and greater personal wealth overall have both contributed
to the huge increase in car ownership throughout the country.
However, where New Towns are part of a growth
area, their relatively low density and good strategic infrastructure
makes provision of a comprehensive, new and sustainable mode of
transport possible.
The local authorities responsible for transport
in the New Towns acknowledged in their first Local Transport Plans
that they had to address the impacts of development programmes
which had been historically car focused. These had resulted in
the dispersal of key facilities and services, leading to high
car ownership and accessibility problems for those socially excluded
groups who do not have access to a car.
In their first Local Transport Plan Delivery
Reports of 2006, Bracknell Forest Borough Council, Halton Borough
Council (for Runcorn), Milton Keynes Council, Peterborough City
Council, Telford & Wrekin Borough Council and Warrington Borough
Council reported on their progress since 2000/01 in addressing
these problems. Examples of evidence in these reports for the
reduction in dependence on the car for travel purposes in these
New Towns include:
—In Milton Keynes, bus use had increased
by 11%, cycling by 29% and traffic flows had reduced across Central
Milton Keynes by 7%.
—In Bracknell Forest there had been
a solid reduction in traffic within the borough, exceeding the
council's targets for road traffic and peak traffic. Road traffic
had reduced from 386,000 in 1996 to 372,000 in 2005/6 and peak
traffic was also down from 69,000 in 1996 to 65,500 in 2005, easily
meeting its target of 14% above the 1996 figure. Access to bus
services in rural areas had increased by 18%.
—In Peterborough, since it became
a Sustainable Travel Demonstration Town in 2004, public transport
trips have increased by 13%, walking trips by 21%, and cycling
trips by 25%. Car trips were down 13%.
—In Halton, the number of people cycling
had more than doubled since 2002/03. Accessible transport services
patronage also almost doubled.
—Telford reported a 20% increase in
bus patronage in the borough.
—Warrington Borough Council introduced
travel plans to cover 29000 employees and 34 schools.
HOW HAVE
THESE REDUCTIONS
BEEN ACHIEVED?
These reductions have been achieved by councils
working in partnership with operators and stakeholders to reduce
traffic, to make town centre parking less attractive and to improve
alternative methods of travel, including public transport, walking,
cycling and demand responsive services. Examples of improvements
include:
—The Sustainable Travel Demonstration
Town of Peterborough, which is receiving £3.24 million over
5 years for a sustained programme of `smarter choices' measures,
such as workplace, school and personalised travel planning, car
clubs and car sharing schemes.
—Warrington's integrated passenger
transport unit, which has enabled significant co-ordination of
health, community and voluntary sector transport provision.
—Halton Community Transport, which
introduced a `Dial a Ride' scheme, `Woman's Safe Transport' and
a hospital service. The full package caters for the elderly, lone
parents, post 16 learners and the disabled.
—A 30% increase in cycle parking at
Milton Keynes Central Rail Station.
—The construction of some 16.5km of
new or refurbished cycleway, including key missing links in the
network in Bracknell Forest.
—The Telford and Wrekin student travel
scheme, which was introduced in July 2002. The Council report
that 25% of all pass holders would have not gone to college without
it.
Best practice has been shared via the Local
Transport Plan Benchmarking Group, which was established in 2002
and consists of the local transport authorities for the New Towns
of Peterborough, Telford & Wrekin, Warrington and Milton Keynes,
as well as Swindon.
b) What impact have Local Transport Plans
had on the provision of public transport facilities in the New
Towns? Please provide examples of the evidence the Government
has drawn upon to reach its conclusion on the impact of Local
Transport Plans on New Towns.
The delivery of the first Local Transport Plans
in the main New Town local transport authorities was assessed
by the Department for Transport in 2006 as: Halton (Excellent),
Bracknell Forest (Satisfactory), Milton Keynes (Good), Peterborough
(Satisfactory), Telford and Wrekin (Excellent), Warrington (Good).
These assessments, accompanied by the Atkins report on the key
achievements and good practice from the first round of Local Transport
Plans, Delivering Better Local Transport, form the basis
of the Government's evidence for the positive impact of Local
Transport Plans on the provision of public transport facilities
in the New Towns
In general, public transport provision has improved
considerably since the introduction of Local Transport Plans,
with improvements to bus services, better information and marketing,
infrastructure improvements and demand-responsive services to
the fore. Many of these, and their impacts, have been examined
in the Government's answer to question 3a. Good examples of the
delivery of public transport strategies by the New Towns local
transport authorities can be found in Milton Keynes, Telford and
Warrington. For instance, the Telford Mobility Management Centre
provides `one-stop shop' information, ticket and marketing with
wider provision of transport services, such as taxi and car sharing
and concessionary travel.
The increasing bus patronage in Telford, highlighted
in the Government's answer to 3a, has been achieved by continued
consultation with the local operator via the Quality Bus Partnership
and the setting up of 5 quality bus routes (including the very
successful Ruraline) to reduce social exclusion and increase accessibility
to public services. The provision of transport information services
and interchanges have contributed to an increase in overall customer
satisfaction with public transport services of nearly 60%.
In Warrington, improvements have been made to
services across the network, making them more accessible. Audible
Real Time Passenger Information facilities have been installed
at bus stops. The delivery of the new town centre interchange
will further improve public transport provision in the borough,
linking bus and rail travel. A number of Quality Bus Corridors
have been developed and new bus services have been introduced,
for instance between new housing developments and the town centre.
Milton Keynes Council has delivered a permanent
park and ride scheme between Central Milton Keynes and the Coachway
and a Quality Bus Initiative serving areas with lowest access
to a car.
4. The Committee concluded that the
planning powers held by English Partnerships, deriving from the
Commission for New Towns, were anomalous and did not help to promote
mixed use, mixed tenure schemes on brown-sites or in town centres.
The Government declined to take action at the time although it
noted that it would expect planning arrangements under the Town
and Country Planning Act 1990 to become more the norm.
a) How frequently has English Partnerships
used the planning powers inherited from the Commission for New
Towns since 2002? How has the frequency changed over time?
Under section 7 (1) part (a) of the New Towns
Act 1981, Development Corporations could submit proposals for
the development of land within the area of a New Town and under
part (b) the Secretary of State could approve these proposals.
The Commission for New Towns ('CNT'), which
constitutes a part of the administrative unit that is known as
English Partnerships, inherited approved sites from the Development
Corporations at the time of their dissolution, as well as the
ability to implement extant Section (7) approvals. Some such sites
which were approved under Section 7 (1) and (2) of the New Towns
Act have been progressed under these approvals, with the agreement
of the Local Authority, particularly in areas where local plans
were in or just beginning the review process and the NTA powers
provided stability and consistency of approach during that review
period. The intent being to deliver development within the spirit
of a new local plan but prior to its adoption.
In very limited instances EP has used the NTA
after a local plan has been adopted but only with the agreement
of the Local Authority and only where use of the NTA would enable
a substantially developed area to be completed in accordance with
an approved masterplan without seeking a new outline planning
consent. The last example of this was Monkston Park Local Centre
in Milton Keynes where a S7(2) authorisation was issued in March
2007. In most other instances responsibility for development control
has reverted to the Local Authority and EP projects on remaining
undeveloped land are being progressed under the TCPA.
b) Will Communities England retain these
planning powers?
We have consulted on the basis that the Homes
and Communities Agency will have powers that are at least as wide
as its constituent parts; this includes the Commission for New
Towns. This will involve granting the Homes and Communities Agency
specific planning powers as well as transferring rights in relation
to existing planning permissions. As the responses to the consultation
document are currently being analysed and the legislation forming
the Homes and Communities agency has not yet been through Parliament
it is impossible to say with certainty what planning powers the
new Agency will have, but our intention is that they will be retained.
c) What other residual powers from the
Commission for New Towns have been retained by English Partnerships
or Government? To what extent and over what timeframe will these
be transferred to local authorities or Communities England?
English Partnerships combines the CNT and the
Urban Regeneration Agency ('URA') (established under the Leasehold
Reform and Urban Development Act 1993) as an administrative unit.
The name English Partnerships was adopted by that unit, but there
is no separate legal entity bearing that name. Under this name,
CNT and URA remain as two separate legal entities, the powers
given to them by statute remaining unchanged at present
The Homes and Communities Agency will be a new
statutory body, with a new structure, new systems of operation
and framed by new legislation. However, we have consulted on the
basis that it will have powers at least as wide as its constituent
parts, including the Commission for New Towns. The extent of the
new agencies powers and the time frame for granting it such powers
is subject to the legislative process, however, it is hoped that
the new agency will be established by April 2009.
CONCLUSION
This Government believes that lessons provided
by the New Towns are being used to help our plans for delivering
the three million new homes by 2020 as announced in the Housing
Green Paper. Our plans include: more homes—backed by more
ambitious building targets, increased investment, and new ways
of identifying and using land for development, more social housing—ensuring
that a decent home at an affordable price is for the many, not
the few, building homes more quickly and to high environmental
standards and flagship developments leading the way. To help families
across the country find affordable, quality housing we need to
build far more houses. But we also need new measures to protect
the environment. The greatest environmental challenge we face
is from climate change. As housing accounts for nearly one third
of carbon emissions, we need to substantially cut emissions from
new homes and work towards zero carbon housing and development.
These challenges can only be tackled by building on experience
of previous programmes—including the New Towns. Initiatives
such as the Millennium Communities Programme, the Design for Manufacture
initiative, the Town Centre Renewal Programme and sustainable
urban extensions are all playing a part in revitalising New Towns
and once again introducing development and design techniques that
will be viewed as today's models of best practice.
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