Delivery structures, governance and long-term stewardship are just as important as the housing numbers attached to this next generation of new towns, Tom Mitchell at Metropolitan Workshop writes
Now that the government has identified seven locations for a new generation of new towns, the idea of large-scale settlement building is moving from policy ambition to reality. For the built environment sector, the conversation is shifting quickly from whether new towns should be built to the more practical question of how they can be delivered successfully.
Over the past months, Metropolitan Workshop has been exploring that question through a series of roundtables with planners, developers, delivery specialists and viability experts. The discussions examined the legacy of the UK’s first generation of new towns and asked what lessons should shape the next.
The conclusions were clear that, if this next wave of new towns is to succeed, delivery structures, governance and long-term stewardship will matter just as much as the scale of housing numbers attached to them.
I grew up in Crawley, one of the original post-war new towns, and I still live there today. That experience offers a very tangible perspective on how these places function over time.
New towns are not simply housing developments. They are long-term civic projects that need to be planned, delivered and most importantly, managed with decades in mind
Crawley’s first 30 years were very successful, as a town built around social infrastructure, with walkable neighbourhoods, strong local centres and generous green infrastructure. But it has suffered since the abolition of the development corporation, with increasingly fragmented asset ownership and shopping trends which impacted the town centre.
What Crawley illustrates is that new towns are not simply housing developments. They are long-term civic projects that need to be planned, delivered and most importantly, managed with decades in mind.
The roundtable discussions highlighted several practical priorities that should guide the next generation of settlements.
First, effective delivery requires strong governance with clear institutional authority. The original new towns succeeded because development corporations combined planning powers, land assembly and long-term oversight, providing both coordinators and investors with the confidence to act.
Today, fragmented ownership and complex planning make large-scale coordination difficult. Without mechanisms to assemble land, fund infrastructure upfront and maintain consistency across political cycles, even ambitious masterplans stall. Any serious new towns programme needs delivery bodies with real authority, adequate resources and the longevity to see projects through.
Second, infrastructure and land strategy must be tackled at an early stage. Historic new towns succeeded because substantial upfront public investment in transport, utilities and services reduced risk and attracted private capital.
The same logic holds today and incremental development alone is insufficient. New towns need coordinated infrastructure planning from the start. Delivering at the required scale will almost certainly demand blended funding models that combine public investment, private capital and mechanisms such as land value capture.
Third, flexibility must be built into the structure of new towns from the start. The most successful historic examples have endured because they were able to evolve. Economic cycles shift, demographics change and new technologies reshape how people live and work.
This is where the role of design, and the role of architects, becomes particularly important. Architects are often associated with the form of individual buildings, but our role in shaping new towns extends far beyond this. Design thinking can help structure neighbourhoods that support walkability, social interaction and adaptable living patterns. It can ensure housing typologies respond to changing needs and that public spaces become meaningful civic assets rather than leftover land.
Equally important is the ability of architects to work collaboratively within multidisciplinary teams, including planners, engineers, developers, economists and local communities. Their role is to translate long-term visions into practical frameworks for delivery.
Good design cannot solve every delivery challenge but it can create the spatial conditions that allow places to adapt over time. In new towns, that adaptability is not a luxury, it is essential.
Another critical ingredient identified in the discussions is stewardship. Too often, governance and maintenance arrangements are treated as an afterthought and addressed only once development is complete. Successful places rely on institutions capable of managing public space, maintaining green infrastructure and supporting community life over the long term.
Delivering new towns will never be straightforward. They require patience, coordination and sustained commitment across political and economic cycles.
Examples such as the Milton Keynes Parks Trust demonstrate how dedicated stewardship structures can protect and enhance public assets. Embedding similar mechanisms into new towns from the outset will help to ensure that places remain resilient and attractive decades after the first residents move in.
Finally, meaningful community engagement should be recognised as a practical tool for delivery. Early and sustained involvement of local communities can build trust, reduce planning risk and improve the quality of proposals. When people feel a sense of ownership in shaping a place, projects are far more likely to gain long-term support.
Delivering new towns will never be straightforward. They require patience, coordination and sustained commitment across political and economic cycles. However, the UK’s historic experience shows that it can be done.
Places like Crawley demonstrate that when governance, design, infrastructure and stewardship are aligned, new towns can grow into thriving communities that people are proud to call home.
As the next generation of new settlements begins to take shape, the challenge for the industry is not simply to build faster. It is to build in a way that recognises that new towns are long-term projects, places designed to evolve and endure for generations.
Tom Mitchell is a partner at https://metwork.co.uk/
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