Huge blow to Angela Rayner’s plans to construct new cities throughout UK – as every will value £4bn | UK | News | EUROtoday

Angela Rayner’s flagship plan to ship a brand new technology of cities throughout England might be scuppered by hovering prices, workforce shortages and under-resourced councils, a bombshell new report has warned — with every website anticipated to value as much as £4bn. The Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, who’s spearheading the Government’s housebuilding agenda, needs to construct 12 new cities of at the very least 10,000 houses as a part of the push to ship 1.5 million further houses throughout this Parliament.

A New Towns Taskforce has been created to guide the method, whereas greater than 100 bids from native authorities are presently being thought-about. However, a examine by WPI Strategy, authored by former MHCLG economist Paul Chamberlain, raises critical issues in regards to the feasibility of the thought. The report, entitled New Towns for England: Where ought to they be and the way can they be funded and delivered?, outlines the total monetary scale of the plan and warns building might stall until the Government implements main structural reforms.

Mr Chamberlain estimates that every new city will value between £3.5bn and £4bn to ship, making an allowance for land, infrastructure, and public buildings.

He additionally highlighted an absence of planning capability and a extreme scarcity of building employees as main obstacles to progress.

Public sector funding should be used to unlock non-public funding by decreasing danger on the early phases, the report warns.

Mr Chamberlain proposed a “Pipeline Fund”, backed by £22.5M of personal capital, to recruit 225 professional planners and deploy them to native authorities with the best capability shortfalls.

The fund can be run by an unbiased physique to keep away from conflicts of curiosity and permit councils to share entry to specialist workers.

WPI Strategy has recognized 10 areas in whole: Milton Keynes, Leeds, South Gloucestershire, Central Bedfordshire, Wiltshire, Huntingdonshire, West Northamptonshire, Mid Devon, South Cambridgeshire, Winchester, East Hertfordshire, and Northumberland.

The report singles out Milton Keynes and Leeds as probably the most deliverable websites primarily based on land availability, infrastructure entry, financial connectivity, housing want, and public help. Milton Keynes is cited because the “trailblazer town” almost definitely to maneuver forward first.

It additionally recommends a phased improvement mannequin centered on mixed-tenure housing and inexpensive rents, arguing that long-term social worth for present communities should be constructed into every undertaking from the outset.

The report requires the scaling-up of modular building to ease labour strain and cut back prices — although it cautions that classes should be discovered from current failures within the sector. Several fashionable strategies of building (MMC) corporations have collapsed amid weak demand and excessive upfront prices.

Mr Chamberlain additionally warns that the Government’s wider housebuilding targets could also be in danger, with estimates suggesting as much as 500,000 further employees shall be wanted, not together with demand from airport expansions, clear vitality initiatives and different infrastructure schemes.

Speaking in August, Ms Rayner stated: “For far too long the delivery of tens of thousands of new homes has been held back by a failure to make sure the development system is working as it should.

“This government has a moral obligation to do everything within our power to build the homes that people desperately need and we won’t hesitate to intervene where we need to.

“Our New Homes Accelerator will quickly identify blockages, fix problems and support local authorities and developers to get shovels in the ground.”