New towns are back. One of the most distinctive policies of Labour’s still light-on-detail offer to the voters is Keir Starmer’s promise to create the “next generation” of this evergreen concept, one which Clement Attlee’s 1945 Labour government put into practice at a large scale. His statement gives some hope of an approach to building homes and communities that is constructive and proactive, a welcome change from the belief that, if only the nuts and bolts of the planning system were sufficiently loosened, private housebuilders would step in and meet demand. Starmer’s statement offers the chance to imagine what a good place to live may actually look like. This question is not in fact difficult to answer. The Town of the future does not have to have monorails and jetpacks, but only obvious good things that almost anyone would want. It should have schools, healthcare and shops appropriate to the size of the town, along with community, entertainment and sports facilities, playgrounds, parks and access to nature. It should have places of work and homes …

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