Memorandum by the Town and Country Planning
Association
Transferable Lessons from the New Towns
I am writing following your letter to the Chair
of the TCPA dated 26 November 2007 inviting further comment from
the TCPA on the CLG report "Transferable Lessons from the
New Towns" and the Government's Memorandum to the Committee
on this matter. I apologise for the delay but your letter did
not reach as soon as intended.
The TCPA is pleased that the Government partly
commissioned the TCPA study "Best practice in Urban Extensions
and New Settlements" and believes this provides useful advice
on the lessons to be drawn from the case studies contained therein.
The case studies are recent new settlements (South Woodham Ferrers,
Essex and Dickens Heath Solihull for example) and urban extensions
such as at Northampton. The research paper produced by the Institute
for Public Policy Research was also helpful. However, neither
of these evaluated the postwar new towns as recommended by the
Select Committee.
The Department commissioned a first stage Literature
Review from Oxford Brookes University which the TCPA welcomes
as an important contribution to the debate. However the substantive
research recommended by the Committee—a proper evaluation
of the New Towns programme—has still not been carried out
and the TCPA urges the Government to move to the next and more
substantive stage of research on this matter.
In the report "Transferable Lessons from
the New Towns" there are some findings which the TCPA would
question and others where fuller research could prove immensely
valuable to fulfilling the current ambitions to deliver more homes
and new settlements in the form of Eco-towns. In addition a number
of lessons clearly required action as stated in the report. Some
of these are highlighted here and the following represent some
of the key areas the TCPA believes proper research as originally
envisaged by the Committee could clarify:
"1.1 NTDCs were exceptionally powerful
delivery vehicles which dominated the entire development process,
not just as `lead developers'. Delivery on the scale comparable
to that of the New Towns will involve creating agencies of similar
potency, even though their actual form will probably differ. Key
lesson requiring action"
The TCPA believes that the key attributes of
the NTDCs which made them enormously successful in delivery terms
appear in danger of being overlooked. The Government made clear
in "Eco-towns Living a Greener Future" (CLG, April 2008)
that "A new town development corporation, established under
the New Towns Act 1981, could be an appropriate delivery option"
for delivery today and thus the need to establish the key benefits
of this kind of vehicle need to be understood as soon as possible.
The current choice of vehicle by Government in Milton Keynes (the
Urban Regeneration Area), the TCPA believes, is one step less
accountable than an NTDC (the latter being directly accountable
to the Secretary of State). The TCPA is also concerned that the
importance of the long term and single purpose nature of the NTDCs
has not been captured by any of the interventions more recently
in terms of local delivery vehicles, these key lessons need to
be further evidenced and disseminated.
"1.11 All necessary land for delivery
should be acquired well in advance of anticipated development
and ownerships consolidated as much as possible. Key lesson requiring
action.
1.13 Where public land ownership is involved
then the pattern of using additional value to underwrite other
development may not differ significantly from what occurred in
the New Towns. Care should however be taken to ensure that any
returns to public agencies based on enhanced values are retained
within the Growth Areas concerned. Key lesson requiring awareness.
1.15 Finance from central Government is likely
to be critical in establishing the growth momentum in the early
stages. Key lesson requiring action."
The acquisition of land remains key if public
bodies are to share in the proceeds from development in any meaningful
way. Therefore a strategy for modern land acquisition and criteria
is needed and would be informed by substantive research on
these points flagged up from the literature review. The Review
published does not cover the important issues surrounding the
fixing of land value at a point in time insulating acquiring
/ public bodies from the inflationary effects of the development
process. This is a vital issue that needs to be considered properly
both in evaluating the new towns experience and urgently in taking
forward the Eco-towns programme.
"2.3 It is important to think ahead
about different scenarios in the event of possible changes in
the economic climate... The lack of flexibility in the financing
of New Towns led to significant deficits, the scale of which could
have been avoided. Key lesson requiring action."
The TCPA believes this lesson shows only a selective
part of the picture and importantly fails to highlight that the
overall debt of the Commission for New Towns was repaid with interest
and in surplus ahead of time. While some NTDCs ran deficits the
overall result of the programme in financial terms was positive
for the public purse thanks in part to the enormous economic
success of Milton Keynes. Ray Thomas reported in "The 1972
Housing Finance Act and the Demise of the New Town and Local Authority
Housing Programmes" (Urban Law and Policy No 5 1982) that
"Overall the 21 new towns for which reports were available
made a profit of £671,000". The financial success
of the new towns is also evidenced by the repayments from the
Commission for New Towns early. These matters go unreported and
a different impression is provided by this early literature review.
The NTDCs were also significant in being loan funded by Government
guaranteeing a return at a healthy margin, unlike the Urban Development
Corporations of the 1980s which were grant funded and massively
more burdensome on the public purse.
There is a real danger these issues will be
lost sight of unless they are properly evaluated and placed before
today's decision makers.
"4.1 Clarity of responsibilities for
delivery and related governance in the Growth Areas will be essential,
especially so since delivery partnerships will be far looser entities
with more diffused power structures than those which characterised
the New Towns programme. Key lesson requiring action"
This assumes the New Towns Act will not be used
whereas "Eco-towns: Living a Greener Future" (ibid)
assumes it may well be used. This again stresses the importance
of single purpose and clearly accountable nature that NTDCs require
if they are to work well. It is possible to have effective
relationships between Development Corporations and Local Authorities
as the "partnership" New Towns such as Peterborough
evidenced without compromising the single purpose mission of an
NTDC. The practice in Urban Development Corporations (UDCs) such
as that currently operating in East London where different parts
of the UDC are administered and planned by different public agencies
is the antithesis of the intention of a development corporation.
This finding clearly needs to be considered further.
"6.5 Working with existing topographical
landscape creates places that can generate a sense of personal
affiliation. The "New Town blues" were partly a product
of low density (and hence compromised access), and anonymous or
placeless aesthetics (as well as issues of community). It should,
however, be acknowledged that psychological responses to places
are not dependent merely on the physical setting, but are also
the product of social;, community and economic factors and conditions.
Key lesson requiring action."
This assertion of new town blues, the critique
of density levels and the focus elsewhere on the need for higher
densities are sweeping judgments on the New Town experience which
are not clearly substantiated. Colin Ward in his 1993 "New
Town Home Town" (Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, London)
reports objective studies that concluded that there are no low
density new towns (page 15) and that New Towns, according to medical
research, lead to improvements in health and well being (page
13). (Feelings of anxiety were identified in studies of residents
in new developments, not a feature related particularly to New
Towns). These points need further consideration and the TCPA believes
the mix of residential densities, displayed by many New Towns
provides a highly sustainable way of life.
The TCPA also believes that the specific issues
of New Towns today reaching the need for a level of infrastructure
investment which goes beyond that in existing towns also merits
further attention.
I hope this is of interest and look forward to hearing
whether the substantive stage of the research recommended by the
Committee will be progressed.
The Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA)
is an independent charity working to improve the art and science
of town and country planning. The TCPA puts social justice and
the environment at the heart of policy debate and inspires government,
industry and campaigners to take a fresh perspective on major
issues, including planning policy, housing, regeneration and climate
change.
Our objectives are to:
1 secure a decent, well designed home
for everyone, in a human-scale envrionment combining the best
features of town and country;
2 empower people and communities to
influence decisions that affect them; and
3 improve the planning system in accordance
with the principles of sustainable development.
Trustees: Prof. David Lock CBE (Chair of the
TCPA), Anthony Fyson MBE (Vice Ch), Richard Butt (Hon. Treas.),
Lynda Addison, Sir Brian Briscoe, Julie Cowans, John Deegan, Rob
Gillespie, Prof Sir Peter Hall (President), Keith Hill MP, Andrew
Shipley, Lee Shostak, Pat Thomas OBE (Vice Ch.) and John Zetter.
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