Recommendation 23

We welcome that the Government has stated its preference for New Towns to be delivered through development corporations with powers of land assembly, under a similar model to the 20th century new towns. However, the Government has not yet announced any new direct funding for the New Towns programme, and has so far indicated that it will rely primarily on private financing from institutional investors. If the Government is to realise the full potential of the development corporation model, it must ensure they have access to their own capital funding to build infrastructure to unlock housing development. Whilst we welcome the Taskforce’s recommendation for a minimum target of 40% affordable housing of which at least half should be for Social Rent, this must not restrict development corporations 66 from using land value capture mechanisms to negotiate a greater contribution of Social Rent homes on sites where this is financially viable. (Conclusion, Paragraph 114)