Trivia: Existing stations where a new garden city could be built

[Bartsimho]

I've thought that to prevent style guidelines just not being passed the American system of you can build anything if there aren't guidelines in place would work. The profit in the market would encourage nice housing (every developer seems to prefer to build "luxury homes" instead of basic ones as they get more profit). It might be a good way to bypass NIMBY's while letting them feel like they are getting a say.

 

[SynthD]

The profit in the market would encourage nice housing (every developer seems to prefer to build "luxury homes" instead of basic ones as they get more profit).

They haven’t done so yet. They build small windows and gardens, no wardrobes, homes with long snagging lists.

 

[zwk500]

So basically we'd be turning this:

Into this:

If you are turning the befores into the afters, the rent will be much, much higher than before the redevelopment. If the rents stay the same, they won't be fitting out flats to anything near that quality.

I lived in Maastricht, in the Netherlands, last year in an area of 2/3-storey terraced housing. They replaced a block of houses near me with a 3/4 storey apartment complex. Although I wasn't able to view the flats as I moved back to the UK before it was finished, you can see here that the gain in space per unit and the uplift in quality over post-war social housing is not particularly big. The idea that you are going to convert 50s semis in depressed neighbourhoods into West London Townhouse architectural showing off while decreasing rents is fanciful.

I've thought that to prevent style guidelines just not being passed the American system of you can build anything if there aren't guidelines in place would work.

The American model is not a good model for functional towns.

The profit in the market would encourage nice housing (every developer seems to prefer to build "luxury homes" instead of basic ones as they get more profit).

They may market them as luxury but the nmajority of developments nowadays seem to be fairly nondescript 3- and 4-bedroom houses with tiny gardens.

It might be a good way to bypass NIMBY's while letting them feel like they are getting a say.

NIMBY's don't want a say, they want nothing to be built near them. So this doesn't bypass NIMBYs at all but rather goes head-to-head with them.

 

[AlastairFraser]

Ruscombe Garden Village

Already been thought of, Bracknell New Town was supposed to be Waltham New Town.
The agricultural land was deemed to be too valuable to build on in the end, but a parkway station for Woodlands Park in Maidenhead, which would have been at roughly the eastern end of the proposed new town, would be sensible.

There's a significant local population, it'd be just off the M4/A404 for village commuters, and long distance coaches could easily nip off to interchange with rail.

 

[JKF]

Around Severnside area would seem ideal - someone had already mentioned Pilning which would be my first choice. Very good motorway links as well as railway, not particularly pretty countryside and further to the west some derelict industrial land (although being heavily developed with distribution sheds). Also nice views over the estuary by the coast. There are some relatively nice villages but nothing jaw-dropping that would be a big loss if the area was developed.

Bristol struggles for affordable housing and people are already commuting from South Wales (affecting the affordability of housing there and causing some resentment), so definitely demand. Would also allow commuting to Cardiff etc. too.

 

[Irascible]

Castle Cary station seems to be in the middle of nowhere with plenty of space around it.
Its also a decent sized station with a good service too.

It also has an interesting name, befitting of a Garden City.

Not sure if locals would approve, but I guess the purpose of the thread is to ignore that elephant in the room!

Westbury/Trowbridge area might be a bit more attractive - you couldn't really expand much south-east given that's Salisbury Plain, but there's a fair bit of land north of the B&H. On a rail crossroads & not especially well connected by road ( definitely not to the east ) it'd be interesting to try & make it work. Call it something white horse related...

 

[leytongabriel]

Rainham Essex? - You've got a small town, some protected woods and marshes for greenspace and some scrappy urban fringe farmland which could be used for garden city development.
Burgess Hill / Hassocks - increasingly important stations where a planned garden city might be preferable to a builder's hotchpotch.
Cholsey - outside the AONB and with a potentially well-positiioned rail station
Winslow on the East-West route or Stewartby/Millbrook on the Marston Vale line?

 

[zwk500]

Burgess Hill / Hassocks - increasingly important stations where a planned garden city might be preferable to a builder's hotchpotch.

Burgess Hill station is already within a medium-large town centre, any subtantial development would be reasonably far from the station and likely nearer to Wivelsfield or Hassocks than Burgess Hill. Hassocks is already targeted for massive infill development, you've probably missed your chance (although the string of old coaching villages along there makes a garden city planned development far more problematic than if you chose to focus one on Plumpton or Cooksbridge stations nearby, which also have the advantage of being out of the shadow of the South Downs, albeit at the cost of being further from the A27/A23).

 

[PTR 444]

Around Severnside area would seem ideal - someone had already mentioned Pilning which would be my first choice. Very good motorway links as well as railway, not particularly pretty countryside and further to the west some derelict industrial land (although being heavily developed with distribution sheds). Also nice views over the estuary by the coast. There are some relatively nice villages but nothing jaw-dropping that would be a big loss if the area was developed.

Bristol struggles for affordable housing and people are already commuting from South Wales (affecting the affordability of housing there and causing some resentment), so definitely demand. Would also allow commuting to Cardiff etc. too.

I suggested Pilning as an ideal location due to its under-utilised Mainline station and swathes of fields surrounding it. Motorway access would also be straightforward as you could plug an access road into the recently built M49 J1.

 

[Dr Day]

If a new 'city' is being created, surely the intent should be for it to have jobs within it, not be purely residential housing for people to commute for work elsewhere? So whilst rail connections are clearly important, arguably they should be focused on business needs ie where do businesses want to be located? This maybe then points to places on main lines between two existing large cities, or around HS2 stations (which is largely already happening).

 

[AlastairFraser]

Parbold would be an option for a Manchester/Liverpool overspill town. Some of the areas down the line are moss, so unsuitable for building, but Parbold has a fair amount of land available and suitable for housing.

Dalston on the Cumbrian Coast would be a good option too, given proximity to the Lake District and the housing crisis in that area.
Plenty of good quality land around there.