Quality and Quantity? – New Towns and Nansledan.

Sir Kier Starmer and Angela Rayner joined King Charles III on a tour of Nansledan, the King’s model urban extension, just days before the New Towns Taskforce’s interim report was published.

Nansledan, on the edge of Newquay, is intended to become “a thriving mixed-use community with homes, shops, offices, cafes/restaurants and leisure opportunities all within walkable neighbourhoods”, and has been praised for its design and focus on quality. The development is being led and managed by the Duchy of Cornwall, and more than 800 homes have been built out already by three developers. This will eventually rise to more than 4,000.

It is unlikely to be a coincidence that Starmer and Rayner’s visit to this model urban extension occurred just three days before the New Towns Taskforce published its much-anticipated interim report.

The Taskforce have received over 100 potential new town site proposals from across the country, which will now be shortlisted and sent to ministers in the summer.

The majority of these site proposals, however, are urban extensions, like Nansledan, rather than standalone towns. This is in part due to the Taskforce’s aim that new towns should be “supported wherever possible by existing infrastructure”.

Matthew Pennycook, the Minister for Housing, has claimed the first new towns will be under construction by the next election.

Whilst some have criticised Sir Kier Starmer and Angela Rayner for involving the King in a hot political issue, the visit to Nansledan  can equally be viewed as the King reminding his government: by focusing on the quantity of houses, it can be easy to let quality slip.

Looking at the pictures it seems the King and Secretary of State got along famously.

You can read the full New Towns interim report here

SP Broadway will continue to monitor the government’s housing delivery strategy, including the new towns scheme.