Quantum PR's Blog

The rise of the Garden City

Developed in the early part of the last century, Garden Cities are becoming a prevalent part of our modern society. Their intention is to create the best of town and country living and help towards the housing shortage in this country.

Indeed, the Locally-led Garden Cities prospectus published by government in April invited local areas to submit plans for garden suburbs, with more than 15,000 homes for each area. Councils now have until the end of this month to raise any concerns about accommodating these developments locally.

As featured in Sunday’s episode of Countryfile, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, announced that he would like a shortlist of potential locations for new Garden Cities to be published by the end of this year. He also hinted that government could specify that all homes in the new developments would need to be no further than 10 minutes away from a green space.

In 2013, 109,370 new homes where constructed in England – this is the lowest figure in four years. Yet the number of households is expected to grow by 221,000 every year this decade.

The introduction of Garden Cities can help to aid the housing crisis and create much-needed employment opportunities in communities.

In Kent, construction work has begun on the expansion of Aylesham. The Aylesham Garden Village project will see up to 1,210 new homes phased over many years. The new homes, 20% of which will be affordable, will be a variety of sizes and tenures to suit all lifestyles, and within walking distance of local shops and schools. Design will focus on providing generous space and good levels of parking and private gardens to echo the ‘Garden Village’ ethos.

For more information please visit www.ayleshamgardenvillage.co.uk

The proposed 15,000-home Ebbsfleet Garden City took a major step forward this week, with Government entering into a period of public consultation. For more information click here.