Call to 'learn lessons' of new towns

MPs have called on the government to fully evaluate the success of the towns built after the Second World War before pursuing ambitious house-building plans.

There were 32 new towns built between 1946 and 1970 to provide new homes and jobs in the post-war period.

And in a report published on Friday, the Commons communities and local government committee said ministers should consider what lessons can be learned from new towns when building three million new homes and a series of eco-towns.

The report said that if the "special and particular needs" of new towns are not recognised, there is a danger that the towns "will fall into social decay and physical dereliction".

Assessing what needs to be done could help provide lessons for the current eco-town programme and on how to meet housing needs, it said.

In 2002, the then Commons transport, local government and the regions committee warned that the towns were in danger of falling into a "spiral of decline" as a result of low house prices and high crime rates.

The follow-up to report echoed the warning that the towns were often poorly designed for the 21st century and encountered social and economic problems as a result.

And it pointed out that each town was built at around the same time, which meant that most of the infrastructure was "reaching the end of its design life at the same time".

In other urban areas, there may be "pockets of infrastructure now needing renewal", but new towns face the prospect of "all their infrastructure requiring refurbishment at once", it said.

Committee chairman Phyllis Starkey said: "The government has embarked on a massive regeneration programme, aiming to deliver three million new homes by 2020.

"It would be an act of folly not to spend a small sum on trying to learn the lessons of history in order to prevent past mistakes being repeated.

"The experience of the new towns can teach us a lot about how we should approach the long-term planning of current and future large-scale urban development, such as the 'eco-town' programme and the growth areas."

Liberal Democrat local government spokesman Julia Goldsworthy said: "With the government pushing ahead with its unwise and unpopular eco-town plans against the wishes of people across the country, the committee is right to demand that ministers learn the lessons of new towns.

"Regenerating existing areas and building affordable and sustainable housing near public facilities and places of employment is essential.

"Instead, the government is storing up problems for the future by steamrolling ahead with a programme of isolated car-dependent developments. By ignoring the lessons of the past, eco-towns run the risk of becoming the broken communities of the future."