What is a garden city and where are garden villages and towns being built and why?

Housing Secretary Sajid Javid to approve as many as five new sites in the next few weeks

Published: 10:50, 5 Mar 2018
Updated: 11:16, 5 Mar 2018

THE Government is set to approve the building of five new "garden villages", adding to the 14 already approved, as part of its so-called housing revolution.

As Housing Secretary Sajid Javid prepares to give the green light to at least two in the coming weeks, here's what we know about the new communities which would bring thousands of new homes.

Letchworth Garden City, the world's first to be built, was founded in 1903Credit: Alamy

What are garden villages?

Garden villages are designed to be distinct, self-contained communities of between 1,500 and 10,000 homes.

They will have their own facilities – such as shops, schools and transport links – and to include green spaces.

There will be £6 million in funding to develop the new villages, which in total will deliver 48,000 new homes, with three larger scale 'garden towns' each creating more than 10,000.

With garden towns and cities that have already been announced it is hoped a total of 200,000 properties will be built.

It is hoped the garden villages and towns will deliver up to 200,000 new homesCredit: Alamy

There were some concerns the plans would increase urban sprawl with building on Green-Belt land.

But the majority are expected to be built on previously-developed 'brownfield' sites.

The idea dates back to the late 19th century, when Ebenezer Howard proposed garden cities as a greener alternative to urban slums.

Work on Letchworth Garden City, the world's first to be built, was founded in 1903 and Welwyn Garden City followed in 1920.

Where could the newest garden villages be built?

The five new garden towns awaiting approval from Javid all lie in the corridor between Oxford and Cambridge, .

Thousands of homes are expected to go up, linking the two world famous university cities as well as Milton Keynes.

Javid will give two towns the green light in the coming weeks then potentially push that up to three more.

The decision comes after funding for a new high-speed rail line and "expressway" for cars was agreed by ministers.

Why are they being built?

The ambitious scheme is designed to tackle the housing crisis by easing pressure on the UK's existing towns and cities.

Housing minister Gavin Barwell said: "Locally-led garden towns and villages have enormous potential to deliver the homes that communities need.

"New communities not only deliver homes, they also bring new jobs and facilities and a big boost to local economies."

Shaun Spiers, chief executive of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, said the proposals would have to be closely monitored but could be the answer to the crisis.

It is hoped the new garden villages can help to tackle the housing crisisCredit: Alamy

He said: "Done well, with genuine local consent, garden villages and towns can help tackle the housing crisis.

Mr Spiers said "they can be preferable to what is currently happening in too many parts of the country".

By that he meant "poor quality developments plonked on the countryside, in the teeth of local opposition and in defiance of good planning principles".

Around 217,000 new homes were built last year and while that is double that of 2010, it is still well below the Government's target of 300,00 by 2025.

Where are the 14 existing garden villages?

The 14 new villages announced stretch from Cumbria in the north of England to Cornwall on the south-west coast.

There are also three bigger garden towns planned in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, Taunton in Somerset and Hallow and Gilston on the Essex-Hertfordshire border.