Why we are doing this
It has been some decades since the country embarked on a programme of building new settlements, and this time around the government's policies for housing and communities reflect today's housing demand, need for empowered communities and environmental concerns.
The Housing Green Paper, published in 2007, outlined the government's plans to build an extra three million homes by 2020. Though some of these homes will be in wholly new settlements the majority will be in substantial urban extensions, some of which will be large enough to significantly influence the character of the wider urban area. All this new building will be set in the context of the lessons from the 'new towns' of the past and the regeneration work that has taken place across the country over the last two decades.
In addition to this, agencies involved in developing new settlements will have new concerns to adapt to, particularly in terms of reducing the impact of housing and urban areas on the environment. These agencies will need to balance all these requirements and the specific needs of local residents for many years to come, producing sustainable outcomes for local people in the long term.
This section provides some background information about the legislation and governmental policies driving the creation of new communities. It is intended to provide some context to the activity of practitioners
building new settlements.