‘Creating the Conditions for New Settlements in England’, a new report published by BSHF based on discussions at the 2013 Windsor consultation event, highlights the potential for new settlements in England.
Significant barriers exist, however, and this report also establishes a set of recommendations for government which, if implemented, would do much to support the development of new settlements.
The report is the first in a series of outputs on new settlements in the UK. Additional publications focusing on other aspects will be produced by BSHF in order to take forward other ideas discussed at this year’s Windsor consultation event.
The housing system in the UK is in crisis. For decades the country has not built sufficient homes for its population. New settlements – as a means of delivering new housing and infrastructure – have much to offer as part of a range of options for addressing this housing shortage.
The UK government has expressed a commitment to locally planned new settlements as a means of addressing the challenges the country is facing. However, significant barriers remain at a national level to their delivery.
In May 2013 BSHF held a consultation at St George’s House, Windsor Castle to assess the potential for delivering new settlements in the UK. A group of experts representing government, academia, industry, landowners, developers and local communities sought practical solutions. This report and the twelve recommendations within it are based on the discussions held during the consultation.
Creating the Conditions for New Settlements in England focuses on England rather than the UK as a whole as discussions at our consultation event clearly identified there were more barriers to the development of new settlements in England than elsewhere in the UK including, for example, a lack of a national spatial strategy. Additional publications focusing on other aspects will be produced by BSHF during 2013 and 2014 in order to take forward other ideas discussed at the Windsor consultation event.
