Guide 1: Locating and Consenting New Garden Cities

One of the fundamental questions that arise when considering new Garden Cities is: where should they be located?

Answering this question involves addressing everything from strategic need to local politics. It also involves finding the right land, in the right place and at the right price so that the high ambitions embodied in the Garden City principles can be met.

This Practical Guide – which is closely linked to Guide 2: Finance and Delivery, and should be read alongside it – is designed to inform local authorities who are planning positively for growth.

It lays out a set of principles that should guide the process of locating and consenting new Garden Cities.

Given that it may be some time before there is a strategic approach to planning for new communities from government, it also explores how these principles might be applied in three scenarios for planning for growth that are currently open to local authorities and their delivery partners:

  • a single authority planning for growth through a Local Plan;
  • a group of local authorities working together to address housing needs; and
  • a combined authority with devolved powers.

The Practical Guide then considers what might be an alternative to the current approach, exploring what a national policy for the designation of new Garden Cities might look like.