Working to secure homes, places and communities where everyone can thrive
In January 2026, we launched our five-year strategy.
Making a difference
Key achievements in 2023
- Working to seek legislative change that will secure homes and communities that will improve population and planetary health.
A substantial amount of work in 2023 focused on seeking to secure amendments to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill (now the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act):
- Working with the Better Planning Coalition and wider stakeholders, the TCPA was pleased to have helped secure an amendment which – if applied correctly – could help to ensure that all local planning decisions support efforts to tackle climate change.
- As part of our Healthy Homes campaign, the TCPA put a huge amount of effort into securing commitments in the Bill to make sure all new homes are healthy. An amendment, tabled by Lord Crisp, was debated and pushed to a vote at Report Stage in the House of Lords. It won by nine votes and so was added to the Bill. While the amendment was subsequently removed by the government in the House of Commons, winning the vote demonstrated how many parliamentarians recognise the need for legislation that supports the creation of high-quality homes.
- Campaigning for new healthy, resilient, and affordable communities to help tackle the housing crisis
With a General Election expected in 2024, the TCPA worked hard to influence the thinking of all Political Parties. The Association welcomed the commitment from the Labour Party to a new generation of New Towns, and the commitment from the Liberal Democrat Party to new Garden Cities.
- Working with local authorities to improve population health and tackle health inequalities
In South Tees, the TCPA supported the appointment of a planning for health specialist who is directly influencing the emerging Local Plan for Middlesbrough. The Plan will guide development in the town until 2041 and therefore influence the health and wellbeing of the current and future population. That’s currently around 144,000 people.
In Buckinghamshire, which has a population of over half a million people, a healthy planning framework was developed to support staff working in public health better understand the planning process and support collaboration with planning colleagues. This work was a catalyst in establishing an authority-wide Health Planning Network to enable more joined-up work on healthier place-making in Buckinghamshire, including influencing the area’s new Local Plan.
- Empowering people to influence the future of where they live, work and play
As well as seeking to work at the national and local levels, the Association has been undertaking more work to empower action at the community level.
In Peterlee, the TCPA worked with communities to support and facilitate workshops that drew on the Garden City principles to inform the development of an ambitious vision for the town’s renewal. Working with the town council, as well as representatives of local arts organisations and local students, a prospectus for the future of the New Town was published in December 2023. The prospectus aims to support the town council to have local conversations about Peterlee’s future and to help attract funding and investment.
The TCPA is also supporting the revitalisation of Planning Aid for London (PAL), London’s free planning advice line for the public. From May 2020 to May 2023, we estimate that around 7,500 people were reached through a planning phoneline, website, workshops and other events and will, therefore, have a better, basic understanding of the planning system.
- Inspiring people to take ambitious action to tackle the housing, health, climate and nature crises
Through our workshops, webinars, conferences and publications, the TCPA seeks to promote and share good practice and provide inspiration.
In 2023 we published a new myth-buster pamphlet and short animation to tackle perceptions and misunderstandings about the Garden City model.
As part of our Tomorrow 125 initiative, we hosted workshops to engage students in the opportunities for planning and the Garden City idea, and what it means for future place-shaping. Workshops were held with University College London, University of Sheffield and the University of Hertfordshire.
We published resources championing long term stewardship as a critical element of high-quality development that will be well-maintained over its life course. A briefing note on securing stewardship through development plans and a process guide for council on Making Stewardship Happen were added to the online toolkit and a short report on retrofitting stewardship arrangements was also published.
Our 20-minute neighbourhood webinar series continued to be one of our most popular resources. Three new webinars were released, covering a variety of topics including how neighbourhood plans can support health, and how to implement 20-minute neighbourhoods in rural areas.
