Who will pay for the new town?
There was no funding allocation for the new towns programme in last November’s budget and Housing Minister, Matthew Pennycook, has simply identified that the funding to kickstart the projects would come from existing pots, such as the £39bn Social and Affordable Homes Programme and the £16bn National Housing Bank.
The massive post-war new towns programme was primarily funded by the government, in the form of long-term loans, enabling rapid expansion of council housing for families to rent. Whilst local authorities would play an important role in the development of the new towns, it is expected that a development corporation would be appointed to mastermind each new town development.
Further details will be announced in the next few months, but the government is going to be more reliant on the private sector to deliver its new towns programme. Reducing the affordable and social rent housing requirement is intended to make the proposition more attractive to developers.
Will the lights go out and the taps run dry?
Plans have been approved to create a massive £3.75 billion cloud and AI data centre near Junction 24 of the M25, potentially one of the biggest in Europe and another is proposed for the Enfield Green Belt at Junction 24.
Google is also to build a new $1 billion (£788 million) data centre near Junction 25 of the M25, at Waltham Cross. Data centres are heavy users of both power and water.
What modelling has been undertaken to ensure there will be sufficient power and water capacity for a new town?