Garden Communities – A bit like garden cities?

Housing Minister Stuart Andrew announces that from Cornwall to Carlisle, the Garden Communities programme will deliver up to 16,000 homes per year from 2025 with £15 million of government funding, driving growth across England, breathing life into 43 towns and villages and putting green, wildlife-friendly spaces at the heart of new development.

New funding will regenerate:

• Long Marston in Warwickshire, formerly a disused airfield that is now a vibrant, green neighbourhood will see 3,500 new homes being built, with a requirement for 35% affordable housing.
• Halsnead Garden Village in Knowsley will deliver 1,619 new homes in Merseyside along with 22.5 hectares of land for new businesses. A country park will accompany wetlands and restored wildflower meadows to improve biodiversity.
• West Carclaze Garden Village will support the delivery of up to 1,500 new homes, in an innovative, sustainable new community that promotes the health and wellbeing of its residents.

Housing Minister Stuart Andrew said: “Building beautiful new homes in the places they are most needed lies at the heart of the government’s levelling up mission.

“Garden villages and towns are perfect examples of the vibrant, green communities we want to see right across the country and today’s funding will allow us to work hand-in-hand with local leaders and industry to deliver the high-quality new homes that we need.”

This investment brings total funding for the Garden Communities programme to more than £69 million, helping level up the country and regenerate communities, with most of the new homes situated in the North, Midlands and South West.

It will also support nearly 200,000 jobs in the schools, shops and offices developed within each garden community, part of the government’s drive to help people secure good jobs where they live, grow the economy and tackle the cost of living.

The programme provides support to progress long-term housing projects from their earliest stages. It enables local authorities to recruit specialist staff, undertake the required planning and receive advice and support from the housing delivery body, Homes England.

Peter Freeman, Chair of Homes England, commented: “Working collaboratively and supporting locally led ambitions to deliver well-designed and great quality new places and communities in the right places is central to our mission.

“This funding will support the delivery of much needed homes and bolster the local economy.”

The announcement builds on plans in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill to put beauty and nature at the heart of new development design, with the introduction of mandatory design codes, which will make sure developers respect styles drawn up and favoured locally – from the layout or materials used, to how it provides green space.

This funding is in addition to the £1.5 billion Levelling Up Home Building Fund, helping SME builders and to deliver over 42,000 new homes in England.

Further information

The Garden Communities programme supports house building in 43 towns and villages from Cornwall to Carlisle and will deliver over 300,000 homes, up to 90,000 of which will be affordable.

List of areas allocated funding

Garden Towns

• Hemel, Hertfordshire
• Otterpool Park, Folkestone and Hythe
• Manydown, Basingstoke
• Harlow & Gilston, Essex and Hertfordshire
• Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire
• Taunton, Somerset
• St Cuthbert’s, Carlisle
• Greater Exeter, Devon
• Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire
• North Northants, Northamptonshire

Garden Villages

• Longcross, Runnymede, Surrey
• Newton Abbot, Teignbridge
• Langarth, Cornwall
• Burtree, Darlington
• Chelmsford, Essex
• Dunton Hills, Brentwood
• Golden Valley, Cheltenham
• South Ashford, Ashford
• Tendring – Colchester borders
• Skerningham, Darlington
• Long Marston, Stratford-on-Avon
• East of Biggleswade, Central Bedfordshire
• North Dorchester, Dorset
• South Seaham, Durham
• Whetstone Pastures, Blaby
• Uttlesford Park, Uttlesford
• West Carclaze, Cornwall
• Culm, Mid Devon
• Halsnead, Knowsley
• West of Elvington, York
• Dunsfold Park, Waverley
• Welbourne, Fareham
• Meecebrook, Stafford
• Dalton Barracks, South Oxfordshire
• Salt Cross, West Oxfordshire
• Infinity, South Derbyshire
• Berinsfield, South Oxfordshire
• Borough Green Gardens, Tonbridge and Malling
• Bailrigg, Lancaster
• Spitalgate Heath, South Kevesten
• Tresham, East Northamptonshire
• Pan-Essex

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