Access to healthcare and good transport links among factors most likely to persuade people to make the move, according to YouGov research
Only a quarter of British people find moving to a new town appealing, according to new polling by YouGov.
The poll mapped public perception of the government’s new towns programme across 349 British local authorities.
It found that people most positive about living in a new town lived in areas with high housing demand or poor affordability, mostly within London but also in Manchester, Leicester, Birmingham, Oxford and Cambridge.
But the poll, conducted for engineering consultant Stantec, found only 25% felt positive about moving to one of the new communities with concerns focused on access to healthcare, shops, restaurants and public transport.
While a net +21% share of respondents supported the principle of new towns, the number of people who opposed them if built near to where they live stood at net -34%.
The research has been published in a new Stantec report outlining how the development industry can change negative perceptions of new towns demonstrate the “transformative benefits” of the government programme.
The first 12 new town locations were revealed by the government in September, with three, at Tempsford, Bedfordshire, Crews Hill, north London, and Leeds Southbank, set to start construction by the end of this Parliament.
The proposed schemes include large-scale standalone new communities, urban extensions and urban regeneration schemes, each of which will have at least 10,000 homes and some “considerably more”.
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The Stantec report, which was launched last week at an event with New Towns Taskforce chair Michael Lyons as keynote speaker, found the factors most likely to persuade people to move to a new town included healthcare, amenities, local safety and affordability of bills.
In his speech, Lyons said the “economically successful and attractive places of 30 years’ time will be those that reflect all 10 placemaking principles, not those that have chosen to move on three or four and forgotten the rest”.
He added: “Too many young people are putting their ambitions on hold, or worse, deciding this country has let them down and taking their skills elsewhere.
“We need an alternative to incremental development and undue reliance on volume housebuilders alone and promoting only home ownership to solve the problem.”
Across all demographics, the poll showed consistently that developers, when planning and designing a new town, should focus on quality and longevity, positive environmental impact and community wellbeing.
Stantec UK and Ireland managing director Brian Yates said the report should “give pause to our industry”.
He said that the new town programme would only be transformational “if our sector can demonstrate that we are listening to what people want and need from new development, that our visions can be ambitious, and that we deliver what we promise”.
The New Towns Taskforce, which drew up the list of proposed locations for the developments, has recommended they should contain a minimum of 40% affordable housing and should be delivered through development corporations with special planning powers to purchase land, invest in local GPs and schools, and grant planning permission.
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