14 new garden villages have been given the go-ahead, which should deliver over 48,000 new homes across the country
09 January 2017
The first wave of garden villages, planned to create tens of thousands of new homes across England, has been given the go-ahead by the Government. Ministers have backed 14 projects across the country that will develop new communities, with between 1,500 and 10,000 properties each. Together these developments have the potential to deliver more than 48,000 homes, of which self and custom build could be a key part.
The plans are expected to create a series of new communities with green spaces, good transport links and high quality affordable homes to help tackle the countrys housing crisis. The new garden village locations include: Welborne near Fareham in Hampshire, Long Marston in Stratford-on-Avon, Oxfordshire Cotswold in West Oxfordshire, Deenethorpe in East Northants, Culm in Mid Devon, West Carclaze in Cornwall, Spitalgate Heath in South Kesteven, Lincolnshire, Bailrigg in Lancaster, St Cuthberts near Carlisle City, Cumbria, and North Cheshire in Cheshire East. Some villages can be expected to start construction over the next year and more locations may be announced later in 2017.
In addition, three new garden towns have been announced near Aylesbury, Taunton and Harlow & Gilston. These are expected to deliver around 50,000 new homes.
Over the next two years, the Government is making £6m available in project support funding for garden villages to local authorities, with a further £1.4m of funding being provided for the delivery of the new towns. Each location will be able use available funding to unlock the full capacity of the identified sites and bring in additional resources and expertise to accelerate development where required. The Government will also provide support in terms of expertise, brokerage and offer of new planning freedoms.
Garden cities, towns and villages can provide significant opportunities for self-build and custom housebuilding, as the diverse nature of this form of housing and its associated benefits aligns well with ‘garden development’ principles. If custom build developers and enablers are engaged early in the development process, they can help to assess development potential and identify suitable parcels of land that could be brought forward for different types of self and custom build housing. This could include the construction of shell or package homes and permissioned serviced building plots thatself and custom builders can buy at affordable prices to help get construction underway quickly.
