The managing director of sustainable housebuilder, Cora, says garden towns could be a solution to the UK’s mounting housing crisis and that local SMEs would be crucial to their success.
Former Brexit Secretary, David Davis MP, recently wrote that garden towns and villages would be an effective way to deliver more homes across the UK.
He said the garden town model would allow the UK to build self-contained villages, designed to deliver all the infrastructure and amenities a thriving community would need.
Luke Simmons, managing director of Northamptonshire housebuilder, Cora, believes garden towns and villages could help boost housing numbers, and that local SMEs would be vital in their delivery.
Simmons said: “A criticism of many new developments is that they put local infrastructure under strain, under-delivering on amenities a community needs to thrive.”
“However, as garden towns and villages are designed from the ground up, you can develop infrastructure that better fulfils the needs of the community straight from the start.”
“It also allows planners to look at renewable power and heating sources, biodiversity, schooling, training – everything can be linked better in terms of design.”
“I think much of the resistance against garden towns comes from a misunderstanding of the green belt. In areas earmarked for developments, homes are often built on arable farming land adjoining a previous development, which, from a biodiversity point of view, contributes very little to the environment.”
“Designing and building sustainable housing schemes can actually provide a net gain to biodiversity, creating spaces that promote and encourage wildlife to make a home there too.”
Simmons continued to say that local SMEs were better placed than larger housebuilders in delivering garden towns, and that it would also provide a welcome boost to the sector.
“SMEs are more likely to be able to deliver smaller parcels quicker than big developers doing a town phase by phase. The work can be divided up so it is delivered in parcels, collaboratively, by smaller developers.”
“It will also act as a boost to the SME sector which has been ignored over decades of poor housekeeping by the government.”
“On the whole, I think Mr Davis is onto something – if SMEs can take a greater role in their delivery, garden towns and villages could be a good way of boosting housing supply, improving local infrastructure and amenities and creating more biodiversity.”
