Illustration by Mike Haddad
There had to be winners and losers when the UK government announced its final shortlist of new town locations in March, cutting the sites down from 12 to seven.
One of those that didn’t make the cut was Marlcombe, a 500-ha area south of Exeter Airport. With up to 10,000 planned homes, and the employment that would bring, it had been put forward by East Devon District Council (EDCC), and Devon County Council.
Along with the 11 other sites, it stood to benefit from the kudos of being an official government-sanctioned new town with support from the financial pot of £16bn through the National Housing Bank, launched in April.
But Marlcombe and four others failed to make the final cut when the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), made its March announcement of the ‘New Towns Draft Programme’ consultation. Those that succeeded out of more than 100 sites entered for consideration included schemes in Leeds, Manchester, South Gloucester, and Milton Keynes (see panel).
"I'd be lying if I said it wasn't [disappointing],” says Todd Olive, portfolio holder for place, infrastructure and strategic planning at EDCC. “We've been working hard with partners in the 18 months since we put the first bid in late 2024, when [the new towns scheme] was first advertised. In our view, we're certainly one of, if not the most advanced proposals in the programme.”
Greatest potential
The chosen seven, said the government, showed the greatest potential for transformative impact and it called the five rejected sites “credible development opportunities.” But Olive says the impact of not being shortlisted saw the combined local authorities “struggle” with public perception over the scheme, despite the proposals first emerging in 2023, before the New Towns Draft Programme was launched the following year.
“We've communities asking, ‘well, surely, you're stopping? Why are you pushing on?’ There have been some real comms challenges from that announcement. We will respond to the consultation and shall be unequivocal that in our view government has got the decision wrong.”
RICS’ chief economist Simon Rubinsohn, however, believes there is “a strong rationale” for the selection of the seven as most are on the outskirts of existing cities, with some inner city. “It is somewhat easier to build on existing infrastructure to support them, rather than having to create something totally new which comes with challenges,” he says.
While it is still early days, questions remain over how these new towns will secure funding and set up development corporations in time to meet a key government deadline – “spades in the ground” on three of the seven by the end of this parliament in 2029.
Of the 12 new town developments proposed, which made the final seven?
In September 2025, the New Towns Taskforce recommended 12 sites scattered across England for development that form a mixture of urban extensions, regeneration and standalone greenfield sites. They would have a baseline of 10,000 homes with at least 40% affordable housing, half earmarked for social rent.
• Building 21,000 new homes in Chase Park and Crews Hill, Enfield, London
• Up to 40,000 new homes in Brabazon and the West Innovation Arc, South Gloucester
• Urban development in Leeds South Bank to create 20,000 new homes
• Inner-city development and densification in Manchester Victoria North to create 15,000 new homes
• A ‘renewed town’ of 40,000 homes in Milton Keynes
• New settlement in Tempsford, Central Bedfordshire with 40,000 new homes
• Riverside settlement of 15,000 new homes in Thamesmead, Greenwich
And which five did not?
• Adlington, Cheshire East
• City-centre development in Plymouth
• Marlcombe, East Devon
• Heyford Park (Oxfordshire)
• Worcestershire Parkway, Wychavon
Source: New Towns Draft Programme
Delivery and funding
A huge amount of work is required before any of these projects break ground, says Zanna Bowles MRICS, partner, head of land and development at Bidwells. Bowles believes some timescales suggested “will prove unrealistic unless development corporations are established promptly and able to work outside the conventional local planning authority process. Development corporations need to be established with a clear remit as a matter of urgency”.
The delivery mechanism and government funding support are going to be crucial, although there are no clear guidelines emerging at present, says Clive Faine FRICS, MD of Abbeygate Developments.
“Is the funding coming from government, the private sector, or a combination of both? And how are other delivery vehicles such as Homes England and the National Housing Bank going to link in as a coordinated delivery package,” asks Faine, who as a developer and investor was heavily involved in the original development of Milton Keynes as a new town.
Land assembly is another issue. Faine says there is no clear indication yet that compulsory purchase order (CPO) powers would be used if negotiated land acquisition fails at “no scheme” land values.
Ben Aspinall MRICS, MD of AspinallVerdi, which has been working on various garden communities, new towns and strategic sites, agrees. Development corporations need to have clear a line of sight to land assembly, whether through partnerships with existing landowners or to send it to CPO.
He says: “There'll be parts of CPO required, not wholesale in most of these. Land assembly and land valuation approaches need to be agreed at the start.”
Creating jobs along with homes is also essential, says Faine, who points out the government draft proposals currently has a strong focus on housing, which is “understandable”. But he adds: “Milton Keynes was [designed] as a balanced community. The discussion from beginning to the end was always, what comes first, houses or jobs? And those two are crucial to get that balance.”
Supporting people’s health and wellbeing is another aspect, with healthy place-making designed from the beginning. In a Built Environment Committee report, New Towns: Creating Communities, published in March, its chair, Lord Gascoigne, stated that the purpose of the new towns programme “must go beyond just meeting housing numbers.”
People need to be able to thrive, rather than simply survive, in these new towns, said Lord Gascoigne. “That means they have to be accessible, age-friendly and safe.”
“AI-assisted tools could also accelerate planning validation and reduce abortive work” Zanna Bowles MRICS, Bidwells
Pushing on
As for East Devon District Council, Olive is adamant the Marlcombe scheme will press ahead, having already had the major landowners, promoters and developers on board with the project before the original New Towns Task Force recommendation in October.
The five non-shortlisted developments could still get help through other existing housing programmes. Aspinall says for most of the schemes “there's been a kernel of development for them. They've got history and therefore will roll on.”
Whatever happens with all the sites, regardless of the decisions made in March, Aspinall’s plea to government is that the new towns can’t been seen simply as a solution to the housing crisis.
“Government needs to do many things, pull a lot of different levers to get anywhere near the new homes’ targets [of 1.5m] and the new towns have got every opportunity to deliver. But only if it's done properly, with the right commercial incentives in place. They need to do something different to what we've done before.”
Aspinall points to the Garden Communities Programme, the Millennium Communities Programme and the 2018 Eco-Garden Communities Programme, all of which have had mixed-success, and asks, “are we seeing signs they are doing anything differently? That'd be interesting to see.”
What is for certain is that homes are needed, with all eyes on what’s going to happen now the MHCLG consultation has closed and how quickly everything will start coming together.
“What comes first, houses or jobs? Those two are crucial to get that balance” Clive Faine FRICS, Abbeygate Developments
The potential role of AI
“How do you design new towns without AI?” For James Garner FRICS, head of AI and data at Gleeds, not using the technology in building the government’s chosen seven new towns is “like going back before the industrial revolution and designing towns that would have to be functional post-industrial revolution.”
Garner, part of the RICS expert working group, which developed AI guidance for the RICS report, Artificial intelligence in construction 2025, argues that unlike in the past, where designs lasted up to 30 years, developments today do not have that longevity.
“It's unlikely that whatever you design it for now, it will be used for the same reason in the future,” he says. “Whether it's the buildings or the infrastructure, you need to be prepared for it to be adaptable, because who knows what the makeup of society is going to look like by 2040?”
At a macro-level, new AI tech should be built into energy systems and infrastructure, given AI-powered driverless cars are set to become a thing in the UK following the 2024 Automated Vehicles Act. And at a micro level with smart homes, offices and schools, “those places in the changing community.”
Bidwells’ Zanna Bowles adds that new towns offer a rare opportunity to embed AI from day one: “Digital twin modelling can optimise the design of transport, drainage and energy systems before a spade goes in the ground. AI-assisted tools could also accelerate planning validation and reduce abortive work.”
