Permanent secretary Tim Riordan tells parliament announcement will be “nearer to January then June”

The final choices for the government’s new towns programme will be announced “early” next year, according to the permanent secretary in the housing ministry.

The Labour Party was elected in July 2024 on a manifesto promising a new generation of new towns, which it defines as new settlements of 10,000 homes or more.

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Tom Riordan, permanent secretary at MHCLG

After entering office it established a taskforce, which published its findings in 2025, identifying 12 potential sites. The government narrowed this down to seven in March and picked three priority schemes.

A public consultation on the proposed locations and a draft planning policy for the programme closed in May, but strategic environment assessments are ongoing.

As recently as September, housing minister Matthew Pennycook had promised that the final locations would be confirmed by the end of this year.

At a hearing of the housing, communities and local government committee on Wednesday, Milton Keynes North MP Chris Curtis probed the secretary of state and permanent secretary at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) about progress on the programme.

Curtis noted that it had been more than two years since Labour was elected and that the first new town designation was still yet to be made.

“We knew it wasn’t going to be something that happened overnight,” housing secretary Angela Rayner said in response. “It does take time to get a new town up and running”.

Asking the witnesses directly when the first designations would be made, Curtis complained: “We expected to hear back on that consultation in the summer. We are now well into the autumn and pretty quickly heading towards Christmas and haven’t heard back”.

Tom Riordan, permanent secretary at MHCLG said that “early next year is the answer”.

Riordan emphasised the need to put in place “the right plans” and “the right environmental framework to enable plans to progress “without interruption” once the green light is given.

“The government is determined to get spades on the ground with at least three new towns within this parliament and is prepared to progress work on a far larger range of locations if that proves possible,” he said.

Proposed new towns locations

  • Tempsford, Bedfordshire — up to 40,000 homes built around a new East West Rail station, linking residents to Cambridge, Oxford, London and Milton Keynes 
  • Crews Hill and Chase Park, Enfield — up to 21,000 homes
  • Leeds South Bank, West Yorkshire — up to 20,000 homes 
  • Manchester Victoria North, Greater Manchester — at least 15,000 homes with a new Metrolink stop connecting residents to jobs across the city
  • Thamesmead, Greenwich — up to 15,000 homes unlocking riverside land in London, enabled by the planned Docklands Light Railway extension
  • Brabazon and the West Innovation Arc, South Gloucestershire — up to 40,000 homes at the heart of a research and advanced engineering economy
  • Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire — a ‘renewed town’ vision to expand the city by around 40,000 homes a new local transport system, boosting connectivity in the Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor 

In response, Curtis probed further on the timeline, noting wryly that for the government “early next year” can end up meaning “30th June”.

“I take early next year as not June,” said Riordan. “Nearer to January than June, let’s say”.

Riordan also stressed that “a decision hasn’t been taken about the numbers” of new towns that will be designated. 

“That’s being assessed at the moment. That’ll be announced early in the new year”.

However, he said the “intention at the moment” was that the three previously identified priority sites would be kept in the plan. These are Crews Hill and Chase Park, Leeds South Bank, and Tempsford.

The new towns programme has not been without controversy. After a change of administration following local authority elections earlier this year, Enfield Council subsequently withdrew its support from the Crews Hill scheme.

However, it is understood that the mayor of London and the housing ministry intend to press ahead with the project regardless.