Response to New Towns Draft Programme Consultation

Published On: 30th May 2026

We’ve responded to the government’s New Towns Draft Programme Consultation.

The Forum does not support the classifying inner-urban developments or Green Belt extensions as ‘New Towns’. We argue that proposals like Chase Park/Crews Hill (Enfield) and South Barking do not possess the geographic or socioeconomic separation required to build a ‘clear and distinct identity’. Instead, we view these as vehicles designed to accelerate housing delivery while bypassing standard national Green Belt protections and planning scrutiny.

Major Concerns & Recommendations

Green Belt & Infrastructure: Locating a new town in Enfield’s Green Belt risks encouraging urban sprawl and destroying an existing horticultural economic base. Furthermore, the area faces significant rail capacity constraints.
Local Governance: Urban extensions should remain under local authority and GLA oversight via existing frameworks like the London Plan, rather than being managed by separate development corporations. Only standalone locations like Tempsford and Thamesmead genuinely qualify as ‘new places’.
Affordable Housing: The proposed 40% affordable housing target is far too low; the housing mix must match local socioeconomic needs.

We urge a revisit and update of existing principles—such as those from the 1945 Reith Committee—relying on standalone, greenfield locations well outside existing metropolitan boundaries.

As usual, the full response can be read along with others in our ‘What we’ve said‘ archive.

Planning, Environment and Transport committee meeting
📅 Thu 11th June | 14:00 - 16:00
🚩 Room B1 70 Cowcross St, EC1M 6EJ (map)

How Effective is Planning Enforcement ?
📆 Mon 29th June | 18:30 - 20:30
🚩 77 Cowcross Street, EC1M 6EL (map)

How can we make it work better? Planning enforcement is important. Unless it’s done effectively, the integrity of the whole planning system is put at risk. But it’s one of the most frustrating issues for civic societies and local community groups. We’ll discuss this and related issues at this Open Meeting on 29th June. Please book here Cases typically range from: Large developments that grossly fail to meet planning conditions or even submitted drawings and plans; Illegal demolitions; Unauthorised residential alterations and extensions; Additional floors built on top of blocks of flats;…

Exec meeting
📅 Thu 9th July | 14:00 - 16:00
🚩 Room B1 70 Cowcross St, EC1M 6EJ (map)

Response to New Towns Draft Programme Consultation