The Department for Communities and Local Government has today published its long-awaited prospectus on garden cities, which is co-signed by Eric Pickles, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, and Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister. The Government’s target is for 250,000 new homes to be delivered through new garden cities. Each new town should consist of over 15,000 homes. The full report can be found here: bit.ly/1p2QA5L

Entitled Locally-led Garden Cities, it sets out the incentives Government will offer local authorities for delivering new garden cities. The headline point here is that from today the Government will provide £1 billion funding through something called The 2015 – 2020 Large Sites Infrastructure Programme.

The Government is looking to avoid the perceived top-down approach of Labour’s eco-towns policy. Accordingly, the focus is on locally-led proposals, with schemes requiring the backing of all local authorities that cover the site. There is also a preference for development on brownfield land.

The key points are:

*  Unlocking large scale housing developments is critical to delivering new homes in the medium to long term. They can offer a more strategic and thoughtful alternative to sequential development, or “sprawl"

*  This will be a local solution, giving communities the power to choose sites, plans and designs

*  Local people can take control of the development, deciding where the developments would be best located and ensure that public services, green spaces and amenities are hardwired into designs from the beginning

*  The Government is investing over £1 billion funding over six years to unlock locally supported schemes capable of delivering up to 250,000 homes. The 2015-2020 Large Sites Infrastructure Programme launches today and will invite bids from local authorities to secure part of the funding

*  The Government’s prospectus on garden cities seeks expressions of interest from local areas interested in delivering a new garden city. The Government will then work with these areas to bring forth their proposals

*  As the last Government’s eco-towns programme illustrates, large scale developments cannot succeed without local support. Schemes should therefore have the backing of all the local authorities the site is situated in, including the county council in tier two authorities

*  Garden cities should provide the full range of commercial, retail, educational and community facilities people need, in such a way as they facilitate interaction between people

*  Developments should be above 15,000 homes, and delivered more quickly than is typical through the existing planning system

*  It is essential garden cities benefit from having good access to existing or planned transport infrastructure

*  The Government wants to encourage the effective use of land by using brownfield land. Expressions of interest which include a significant element of brownfield land will be particularly welcome

*  Direct planning support – the Government will give successful expressions of interest support from the Advis