New parliamentary group launched to promote new towns

The group had its launch reception on Wednesday night with the secretary of state for housing, communities and local government Sajid Javid in attendance.

Milton Keynes South MP Iain Stewart who is the vice-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group is hopeful they can influence government.

“New Towns like Milton Keynes are facing big challenges as they come of age. We have out grown our planned size both in terms of population and footprint, that has consequences for infrastructure,”Iain said.

“People living in Milton Keynes or other New Towns are not anti-growth, but they do want an Infrastructure before Expansion, I before E, led approach.

“Hopefully this group clan play a role in addressing those challenges as we move forward.”

Dr Wei Yang, a leading town planner focusing on new and garden towns and a trustee of the MK Discovery Centre has also joined the group as a supporter.

“As we are about to enter a new era of garden towns and villages across the UK and especially along the East-West corridor, we need to make sure the government takes on board the lessons learned from developing the first generation of new towns, and adapts best practices internationally of delivering 21st Century new towns,” she added.

“I am delighted to be working with Iain and other members of the group. I believe there is a lot it can achieve.”