Up to five new garden towns could be approved under the Government’s plans for a ‘housing revolution’.
The planned settlements, set to be built on the corridor between Oxford and Cambridge, would bring with them thousands of homes.
Sajid Javid, the housing secretary, has announced he will give the greenlight to two new towns in the next few weeks and may push for up to three more.
It comes after funding was agreed for a high-speed rail line as well as an ‘expressway’ for cars between the two university towns which would almost halve journey times.
Up to five new garden towns could be built between Oxford and Cambridge under the Government’s plans for a ‘housing revolution’. It comes after funding was agreed for a high-speed rail line as well as an ‘expressway’ for cars between the two university towns
Sajid Javid, the housing secretary, has announced he will give the greenlight to two new towns in the next few weeks and may push for up to three more
Mr Javid told the Sunday Times: ‘Along that corridor there’s an opportunity to build at least four or five garden towns and villages with thousands of homes.’
He added: ‘We have a housing crisis in this country. Average house prices in England are eight times average earnings.
‘In London, where we have the most acute shortage, it is 15 times average earnings. That’s not just the worst we have had in England , it’s the worst of any major developed economy.’
The total number of homes built last year – 217,000 – was more than double the total for 2010.
But it is still well below the Government’s target of 300,000 a year by 2025.
Mr Javid will on Monday unveil a new version of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) in a bid to force councils to build more homes.
The new NPPF will decide how many new homes a council should be building a year – and if they fall short, the Government will strip them of their right to decide what is and is not built in their area.
Instead, the decisions will be made by independent planning inspectors.
The proposed new towns, between Oxford (pictured, the city’s University Church of St. Mary the Virgin) and Cambridge, would bring with them thousands of new homes
Housing secretary Sajid Javid has declared war on the housing crisis. Pictured: King’s College Chapel, Cambridge
Mr Javid’s comments come as Theresa May demanded action from ‘nimby’ town halls which fail to tackle the housing crisis.
The Prime Minister has piled pressure on councils to approve home-building schemes by vowing to change planning rules in favour of new developments.
But she is also set to urge developers to deliver new homes with the prospect of new ‘use it or lose it’ contracts where planning permissions could lapse if builders sit on their hands.
Ministers have already announced plans to make it easier for people to extend their homes upwards by adding up to two storeys.
But Mrs May will go further and set out plans to change the National Planning Policy Framework to give councils more freedom but also more tools to encourage housebuilding.
And Housing Minister Dominic Raab said the Tories were ‘restless to revive the Conservative dream of home ownership for those who today find it beyond their reach’.
He said councils would get ‘greater freedom and more tools’ but warned they must deliver.