We are delighted to have partnered with BusinessLDN to produce today’s report ‘The case for a new town in London’ which calls for one of the Government’s proposed new towns to be located within London.

Together with our friends at DP9, Arup, Volterra, and Zack Simons of Landmark Chambers, the report argues that the Capital should be a test bed for the Government’s New Towns policy, given it has the political framework, infrastructure links, and range of potential sites needed to establish new settlements at speed. It would also help ease housing shortage pressures facing councils, with London boroughs currently forced to spend £4m daily on temporary accommodation.

Karen Alcock, Founder and MD at Kanda Consulting, comments:

“Delivering more new homes in London is a vital priority for the Mayor and all London boroughs. The creation of a new town in the Capital offers the best opportunity to do this at scale, supported by Government momentum and urgency to help unblock planning red-tape.

There is huge political appetite and will to deliver this change, but undertaking comprehensive community engagement to truly understand what communities want from new development will be vital to success. Change must happen with and not to residents.”

The new BusinessLDN report does not seek to pinpoint an exact location for a new town in London, instead it highlights how the Capital scores well against key criteria the Government could use to assess potential sites and is well placed to accommodate any type of new town.

Our expertise within the built environment and in delivering high quality and bespoke engagement and communications strategies positions us well to support new towns engagement when sites are identified, and plans emerge.

This is an important piece of work which we hope will result in ambitious action for London, and we look forward to future engagement with partners and government to help make this happen.

Read the full report here.