The government has pledged to build a "new generation of towns" across the UK. Housing minister Matthew Pennycook said the plan is an "ambitious milestone" to build the next generation of communities. Report by Kennedyl. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00We know the government's got an ambitious milestone to build up 1.5 million new homes
00:04as part of its plan for change, and as part of that plan we want to bring forward the
00:07next generation of new towns.
00:09We set up an independent taskforce last year to examine how these new towns could be brought
00:14forward, how they'd be funded and where they should be.
00:17That taskforce has made progress, it's reporting on that progress, as you say we've had 100
00:21expressions of interest from all parts of the country.
00:23The taskforce will issue its final report in the summer and at that point ministers
00:26will have a series of recommendations and we'll be able to choose the final locations
00:30for these large-scale new communities.
00:31But we're taking action in the short term, that's why we've announced three additional
00:35sites as part of our new homes accelerator programme.
00:37That's an initiative to get large sites across the country which are stalled or are building
00:41out slowly going.
00:42We've already, through our seven sites as part of that programme, made progress on sites
00:47that total nearly 30,000 homes.
00:49We've released another 10,000 through just getting statutory consultees and other partners
00:53involved.
00:54And we've got to go further and faster.
00:55As I say, we've added three sites today as part of that process, so short-term action
01:00on unblocking these large sites, but the new towns programme will make a transformational
01:04difference in the years to come.