Steven Swinford, Political Editor |
Chris Smyth, Whitehall Editor
Tuesday October 10 2023, 12.01am BST, The Times
Sir Keir Starmer will pledge to build Georgian-style townhouses in urban areas and a string of new towns as he sets out plans for a decade in power.
The Labour leader will use his conference speech today to announce a “new generation” of large towns and suburbs in areas with high growth.
They will be developed by state-backed companies with compulsory purchase powers, with a cap on what landowners can charge, to free cash for local amenities. Doctors’ surgeries, schools, transport links and other infrastructure would be “hardwired” into the plans, Starmer says in the speech.
Labour will run a six-month consultation to identify suitable sites for new towns with potential for high economic growth and “areas with significant unmet housing need”. The Times has previously been told that they could include Cambridge and the M1 corridor around Milton Keynes, with dozens of potential sites being considered.
The first new towns were created by the postwar Labour government, which designated areas for building and set up development corporations to oversee settlements such as Stevenage, Crawley, Basildon and Milton Keynes.
Three million people now live in such towns and Labour will promise a similar model to create “entirely new, large-scale housing settlements”, insisting it can overcome inertia that has prevented previous attempts to revive the idea.
Referring to his childhood home, Starmer says in the speech: “That pebble-dashed semi was everything to my family. It gave us stability through the cost of living crises of the Seventies, served as a springboard for the journey I’ve been on in my life. And I believe every family deserves the same.” He promises a “decade of national renewal”, suggesting that his party would be in power until the mid-2030s, after previously telling activists it would take more than one parliament to achieve his goals.
He acknowledges that voters need a reason to back Labour at the next election and says the “tide is turning” towards his party and away from the Tories and the Scottish National Party.
He says: “People are looking to us because they want our wounds to heal and we are the healers. People are looking to us because these challenges require a modern state and we are the modernisers. People are looking to us because they want us to build a new Britain and we are the builders.” Labour would be “totally focused on the interests of working people”, he says.
A Labour victory would give the chance to “turn our backs on never-ending Tory decline with a decade of national renewal” and give the British people the “government they deserve”.
Following his shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves’s speech setting out plans to reform the “antiquated” planning system so that new infrastructure gets built, Starmer contrasts the approach with Rishi Sunak’s decision to abandon the northern leg of HS2.
He pledges Labour would “get Britain building” and “the winner this time will be working people, everywhere”. Promising a “big build” for the country, he says: “What is broken can be repaired, what is ruined can be rebuilt.”
Starmer signals that he would resist tax rises while living standards are squeezed and tells activists: “We should never forget that politics should tread lightly on people’s lives, that our job is to shoulder the burden for working people — carry the load, not add to it.”
He says: “That’s what getting our future back really means. It boils down to this: can we look the challenges of this age squarely in the eye and amid all the change and insecurity find the hunger to win new opportunities and the strength to conserve what is precious.”
Georgian-style?
Interested to know what that means since there are many Georgian styles and periods . Does he just mean terraces? Does he mean like the crescents in Bath or parts of London? 🤣
Or is it one of the later Georgian periods, like a semi-detached 40s/50s house?
Will they have garages in that are an actual usuable size that you can fit a car in? Suitable layout for modern life with proper insulation, lighting, etc? Will building codes be enforced to ensure houses are actually finished and not shoddily built?
New estate nearby, the brickwork isn’t as ornate as older properties, some have windows in weird places (or not at all), so it fulfils a regulation but does nothing for light. Their gardens are endless fence city, with rear access not the most convenient way managed.
Noble things, I’m sure, but implementing a policy is different to just pledging them.
Same with new towns. Hopefully they’ll be planned better than some that were built prior. The architecture then has not aged well, new towns built then now feel more dull, drab, dreary and lifeless… which happens when you build it as a shopping centre and not an actual, vibrant town centre.
I fear we’ve forgotten how to design buildings to look nice as well as function.
I think Georgian style homes are pretty much perfect for high-density urban planning. A traditional appearance which nobody objects to, plus the ability to build flats above small or medium shop or restaurant units. I’m surprised we don’t see more of these kinds of developments.
3 comments
Steven Swinford, Political Editor |
Chris Smyth, Whitehall Editor
Tuesday October 10 2023, 12.01am BST, The Times
Sir Keir Starmer will pledge to build Georgian-style townhouses in urban areas and a string of new towns as he sets out plans for a decade in power.
The Labour leader will use his conference speech today to announce a “new generation” of large towns and suburbs in areas with high growth.
They will be developed by state-backed companies with compulsory purchase powers, with a cap on what landowners can charge, to free cash for local amenities. Doctors’ surgeries, schools, transport links and other infrastructure would be “hardwired” into the plans, Starmer says in the speech.
Labour will run a six-month consultation to identify suitable sites for new towns with potential for high economic growth and “areas with significant unmet housing need”. The Times has previously been told that they could include Cambridge and the M1 corridor around Milton Keynes, with dozens of potential sites being considered.
The first new towns were created by the postwar Labour government, which designated areas for building and set up development corporations to oversee settlements such as Stevenage, Crawley, Basildon and Milton Keynes.
Three million people now live in such towns and Labour will promise a similar model to create “entirely new, large-scale housing settlements”, insisting it can overcome inertia that has prevented previous attempts to revive the idea.
Referring to his childhood home, Starmer says in the speech: “That pebble-dashed semi was everything to my family. It gave us stability through the cost of living crises of the Seventies, served as a springboard for the journey I’ve been on in my life. And I believe every family deserves the same.” He promises a “decade of national renewal”, suggesting that his party would be in power until the mid-2030s, after previously telling activists it would take more than one parliament to achieve his goals.
He acknowledges that voters need a reason to back Labour at the next election and says the “tide is turning” towards his party and away from the Tories and the Scottish National Party.
He says: “People are looking to us because they want our wounds to heal and we are the healers. People are looking to us because these challenges require a modern state and we are the modernisers. People are looking to us because they want us to build a new Britain and we are the builders.” Labour would be “totally focused on the interests of working people”, he says.
A Labour victory would give the chance to “turn our backs on never-ending Tory decline with a decade of national renewal” and give the British people the “government they deserve”.
Following his shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves’s speech setting out plans to reform the “antiquated” planning system so that new infrastructure gets built, Starmer contrasts the approach with Rishi Sunak’s decision to abandon the northern leg of HS2.
He pledges Labour would “get Britain building” and “the winner this time will be working people, everywhere”. Promising a “big build” for the country, he says: “What is broken can be repaired, what is ruined can be rebuilt.”
Starmer signals that he would resist tax rises while living standards are squeezed and tells activists: “We should never forget that politics should tread lightly on people’s lives, that our job is to shoulder the burden for working people — carry the load, not add to it.”
He says: “That’s what getting our future back really means. It boils down to this: can we look the challenges of this age squarely in the eye and amid all the change and insecurity find the hunger to win new opportunities and the strength to conserve what is precious.”
Georgian-style?
Interested to know what that means since there are many Georgian styles and periods . Does he just mean terraces? Does he mean like the crescents in Bath or parts of London? 🤣
Or is it one of the later Georgian periods, like a semi-detached 40s/50s house?
Will they have garages in that are an actual usuable size that you can fit a car in? Suitable layout for modern life with proper insulation, lighting, etc? Will building codes be enforced to ensure houses are actually finished and not shoddily built?
New estate nearby, the brickwork isn’t as ornate as older properties, some have windows in weird places (or not at all), so it fulfils a regulation but does nothing for light. Their gardens are endless fence city, with rear access not the most convenient way managed.
Noble things, I’m sure, but implementing a policy is different to just pledging them.
Same with new towns. Hopefully they’ll be planned better than some that were built prior. The architecture then has not aged well, new towns built then now feel more dull, drab, dreary and lifeless… which happens when you build it as a shopping centre and not an actual, vibrant town centre.
I fear we’ve forgotten how to design buildings to look nice as well as function.
I think Georgian style homes are pretty much perfect for high-density urban planning. A traditional appearance which nobody objects to, plus the ability to build flats above small or medium shop or restaurant units. I’m surprised we don’t see more of these kinds of developments.