The UK could be getting a brand-new city – to the tune of £100 billion (Picture: Intergenerational Foundation)
Towering skyscrapers made not of glass, but of wood; 12 acres of newly planted forest, and four-bedroom family homes for £350,000.
These are just some of the features in the planner for a brand-new city which touts itself as a solution to the housing crisis.
The name? Forest City 1. It’s not exactly catching, but it does what it says on the tin, considering that it’ll be right in the depths of nature.
It’s currently still in the planning stage, but if the blueprints were to be approved, it could end up being a similar size to Bristol – but with more than twice the number of residents.
At the moment, the West Country hub is currently home to approximately 494,400 people – but if it were to come to fruition, the tentative Forest City could end up housing around 1 million renters and homeowners.
If the plans were successful, Forest City would end up being the first new one to be built in the UK for more than 50 years – the last one being Milton Keynes, which was finished in 1967 and has since jokingly been likened to ‘Satan’s Layby,’ because, well, it’s not exactly the most exciting place. Sorry.
The plans also focus on a public transport system that ‘works’ (Picture: Intergenerational Foundation)
Ready to start your homebuying journey?
You can access completely fee-free mortgage advice with London & Country (L&C) Mortgages, a partner of Metro. Customers benefit from:
– Award winning service from the UK’s leading mortgage broker
– Expert advisors on hand 7 days a week
– Access to 1000s of mortgage deals from across the market
Unlike many mortgage brokers, L&C won’t charge you a fee for their advice.
Find out how much you could borrow online
Mortgage service provided by London & Country Mortgages (L&C), which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (registered number: 143002). The FCA does not regulate most Buy to Let mortgages. Your home or property may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.
Where is the new city being built?
While we don’t yet have the exact details on where Forest City will be built, we do know that it’s roughly planned for land just east of Cambridge, between Newmarket and Haverhill in Suffolk.
Given its idyllic location, close to Cambridge and not far from London, the plans are focusing on providing a public transport system that actually ‘works,’ with regular trains to both cities and buses that run four times an hour – or every 15 minutes.
The city will be built on land east of Cambridge (Picture: Metro)
What will the new city be like?
The plans say that Forest City won’t just be ‘another housing estate,’ but a ‘real city.’ But what does that look like? There’ll be:
- Walkable neighbourhoods
- Visually appealing architecture
- 12,000 acres of newly planted forestry
- New infrastructure, including schools, hospitals, transport and parks.
Why is the UK building a new city?
The company behind Forest City – Albion City Development Corporation – is aiming to build a new city to help alleviate the housing crisis.
However, it remains to be seen whether this solution will touch the sides of the issues Britons are facing, whether that’s accessing an affordable mortgage or renting from a landlord that’ll charge them a fair rate.
Dame Patricia Hewitt, who was the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry under Tony Blair, says of the scheme’s proposals: ‘Building a new city may seem outrageously audacious, but it’s part of what will make national renewal real.
There’ll be walkable neighbourhoods galore (Picture: Intergenerational Foundation)
‘And if it’s done with genuine partnership and a focus on people and place, it could transform the opportunities for today’s and tomorrow’s new generations.’
Meanwhile, Professor Tim Leunig, a former advisor to two chancellors and three housing secretaries, who has also backed the proposals, notes: ‘The UK needs far more houses. They need to be in the right places…the area around Cambridge is such a place.
‘Using a community land trust means that build-out rates can be rapid – exactly as they were in the UK in the Industrial Revolution.’
The UK is in the depths of a housing crisis – but will this solution help at all?
With the cost of the average property skyrocketing out of the grasp of affordability, many young people have found themselves locked out of homeownership.
For those without the help of generational wealth, it’s a lifetime membership to Generation Rent instead. In London alone, 30.1% of properties are now comprised of private rentals – the highest percentage since 1971.
Those struggling to afford private rents don’t always have the option of accessing council housing, either, as the UK’s council housing stock has slowly been depleting over the last 70 years.
In 2024, a study from Shelter found that while more than 200,000 social rent homes were built in England in the mid-1950s, by 2023 to 2024, the number of homes built had declined to just 10,000.
Existing housing stock has also been sold off through the controversial Right To Buy policy, which allows council tenants to buy their own homes at a discounted rate.
Initially introduced in 1980 by Thatcher’s government, the policy is still in place across England, and while it’s allowed many a coveted spot on the property ladder, it also meant that more and more council houses have slowly been transferred into private hands.
Statistics from the New Economics Foundation (NEF) found that more than four in 10 council homes sold under Right To Buy are now owned by private landlords. So yes, it’s safe to say that there’s a housing crisis.
How much will it cost and when will it open?
The new project – which will cost a mind-boggling £100 billion in total. It’s expected to include four-bedroom homes costing £340,000 – much cheaper than most four-beds in neighbouring Cambridge, but still more expensive than the current average UK home, which is worth £270,000, according to Zoopla’s latest House Price Index.
A four-bedroom family home will cost £340,000 (Picture: Intergenerational Foundation)
Details on when the project will open are also relatively flimsy, considering that the plans haven’t yet been approved, and are currently in phase one of five – AKA, proving public demand by asking people to sign a petition.
Are there plans for other ‘new towns’?
The 1946 New Towns Act laid the foundations for the likes of Stevenage, Crawley, Corby, and Harlow to be built – and later on, Milton Keynes and Peterborough.
It’s no secret that under Sir Keir Starmer, Labour has backed the development of several new towns.
At the last party conference in September, housing secretary Steve Reed announced that work would begin on the construction of 12 locations before the next general election, highlighting three key areas that could prove ‘promising’: Tempsford in Bedfordshire, Crews Hill in North London, and South Bank in Leeds.
Do you have a story to share?
Get in touch by emailing MetroLifestyleTeam@Metro.co.uk.
Arrow
MORE: This is exactly how much it costs to move house in 2025 — and it’s bleak
Arrow
MORE: ‘Once-in-century’ plan to upgrade area near major London station with 2,500 new homes
Arrow
MORE: From sidings to suburbs: The railway lines where 40,000 new homes could be built
Comments
Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google
Add as preferred source
The Key
Sign up for must-read property stories, DIY hacks and tips for buying a home.