When Royal Vision Meets Reality: What the New Towns Push Means for Social Housing

Something significant is happening in the corridors of power. The government has committed to creating up to 12 entirely new towns across England, each delivering over 10,000 homes—that's potentially 120,000+ new homes in purpose-built communities. But this isn't just about hitting housing numbers. Unlike previous housing pushes that scattered developments across existing areas, these new towns will be built from scratch with their own infrastructure, town centres, and transport links. And for social landlords, that fundamental shift from infill development to complete place-creation presents both unprecedented opportunities and some serious challenges.

From Royal Experiment to National Policy

The towns will help meet housing need by targeting rates of 40% affordable housing with a focus on genuinely affordable social rented homes, according to government announcements. But here's what makes this different from previous housing pushes: the influence of King Charles's long-championed principles, developed through projects like Poundbury and now being scaled up through design codes and stewardship models.

The basic principles are high density rather than suburban sprawl, mingling low-rise residential and commercial buildings within walking distance, a primacy of pedestrians over cars, and an emphasis on high quality and elegant design. What started as one man's vision for better communities is now becoming the template for up to 12 new towns, each targeting over 10,000 homes.

The Game-Changer: Design Codes as Standard

Here's where it gets interesting for social landlords. The new approach isn't just "build more units and hope for the best." The New Towns Taskforce, established in September 2024, is an independent expert advisory panel pushing for something much more sophisticated: design codes that shape everything from street layouts to building materials before a spade hits the ground.

Think of it as the Poundbury playbook going mainstream. The town is designed around pedestrians, rather than cars. The streets and town squares are well connected and the neighbourhoods in Poundbury are within a five-minute walk from the town centre. Now imagine that level of planning rigour applied to developments with thousands of social and affordable homes.

For social landlords, this means getting your technical requirements—refuse stores, plant rooms, accessibility features, overheating prevention—locked into the design code early. Miss that window, and you'll be retrofitting solutions into someone else's vision of beautiful streets.

The Fifteen-Minute Dream (and Transport Nightmare)

The aspiration is compelling: complete neighbourhoods where daily needs are within a short walk or cycle ride. The 'New Towns Code' will ensure they deliver to the highest standards and create genuinely mixed communities rather than separate estates for different tenure types.

But here's the rub: these places live or die on transport connections. Get the sequencing wrong—homes before buses, residents before rail links—and you've created car-dependent suburbs with a pedestrian-friendly façade. For social housing residents, who are more likely to depend on public transport, poor connectivity isn't just an inconvenience—it's exclusion from opportunity.

Where Social Housing Wins (If Done Right)

The opportunity here is genuinely exciting. For the first time in decades, we have a programme that could deliver social housing at scale within complete, mixed neighbourhoods. Projects like Nansledan show how design codes and long-term stewardship can create award-winning developments where affordable homes sit seamlessly alongside market housing.

The stewardship piece is crucial. Since construction began in 1993, Poundbury has been a testament to Charles' commitment to traditional town planning principles maintained through estate-level management. That same model, where design quality is preserved through ongoing governance and revenue streams, could transform how social housing is maintained long-term.

But here's what social landlords must secure: their seat at the stewardship table. Miss out on that governance role, and you'll be a price-taker on service charges for decades, watching others decide how your residents' neighbourhoods are managed.

The Risks Nobody's Talking About

The House of Lords Built Environment Committee has already raised red flags about delivery capacity and infrastructure coordination. When things go wrong in new communities, it's social housing residents who suffer most, they can't simply sell up and move.

There's also the clustering problem. If affordable housing phases get pushed to later development stages or relegated to secondary streets, the "mixed community" vision collapses. Residents end up in tenure ghettos with a beautiful masterplan gathering dust.

And let's be honest about costs. Design codes that prioritise beauty and walkability often come with premium price tags. The challenge is ensuring that social housing gets the same attention to detail as market homes, not a value-engineered version that looks integrated from the street but cuts corners where it doesn't show.

What Social Landlords Should Do Now

First, engage early with emerging design codes. Your input on practical requirements, from bin store access to heating system maintenance, needs to be embedded before the code is finalised.

Second, fight for genuine integration. Push back against proposals that segregate affordable housing by phase, location, or design standard. The evidence from successful mixed communities is clear: integration benefits everyone.

Third, secure your stewardship role. Don't just build and walk away, ensure you have influence over the long-term management of these places. Your residents deserve a voice in how their neighbourhoods evolve.

The Bigger Picture

What we're witnessing is potentially transformational: a shift from housing as units delivered to housing as places created. The Duchy's principle of "creating beauty and reflecting local character and identity" is becoming national policy, backed by serious money and political commitment.

For social landlords, this represents both the biggest opportunity in a generation and a test of whether the sector can rise to the challenge of creating not just homes, but communities that last. The King's vision is becoming reality,the question is whether social housing will be central to that story or sidelined by it.

The new towns are coming. Make sure your residents aren't just along for the ride, but helping to drive the destination.