Communities and Local Government
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- Housing
- Housing supply
- Growth Areas
- New Growth Points
New Growth Points
This page outlines the funding and support that is being made available for local communities to pursue large scale sustainable growth, including new housing.
Announced in December 2005, the New Growth Points initiative is designed to provide support to local communities who wish to pursue large scale and sustainable growth, including new housing, through a partnership with Government.
The Government invited local authorities to submit strategic growth proposals which were sustainable, acceptable environmentally and realistic in terms of infrastructure to be assessed by Government and its agencies. Criteria for new growth points were published to help local partners develop good quality growth proposals.
29 areas were named as New Growth Points across the East, South East, South West, East Midlands and West Midlands. If all of the proposed growth is realised New Growth Points would contribute around 100,000 additional dwellings by 2016, an increase of around 32 per cent on previous plans for housing supply in these areas.
They will share in £40m in 2007-08 for a first round of infrastructure projects and to support growth-related studies, masterplanning and capacity-building in the New Growth Points. This money will help overcome local infrastructure problems, unlock sites for new housing and enhance the local environment.
New Growth Points status is not a statutory designation but is about a relationship between central government and local partners. It is built on four principles:
- early delivery of housing as part of the growth plans
- supporting local partners to achieve sustainable growth
- working with local partners to ensure that infrastructure and service provision keep pace with growth
- ensuring effective delivery
Levels of growth will be subject to comprehensive testing and public consultation through the regional and local planning processes to ensure that individual proposals are sustainable, acceptable environmentally and realistic in terms of infrastructure.
This initiative has involved a cross-Government approach involving DfT, DEFRA, the Environment Agency, Natural England and the Highways Agency, amongst others. Government's partnership with New Growth Points is subject to explicit conditions which follow detailed assessment, by these Government Departments and Agencies, of the growth proposals submitted. Making these conditions of partnership underlines their importance in shaping sustainable outcomes.
This section provides more information about the New Growth Points Initiative and details on the individual locations.
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