PRESS RELEASE

TRANSPORT for New Homes is warning the Government’s new housing plan risks creating hundreds of thousands of car-dependent homes with some of the highest housing targets in areas with the lowest levels of public transport satisfaction.

As the Planning and Infrastructure begins its second reading in the House of Lords today, Transport for Homes has published research which maps the Government’s new housing targets against public transport satisfaction scores from IPSOS.

The results show that in many of the local authority areas which have been given high targets, more people are dissatisfied with the quality of public transport (buses, trains, trams and the tube) in their local area than are satisfied.

Steve Chambers, Sustainable Transport Campaigner at Transport for New Homes, said: 

“What these figures show is a complete lack of joined up thinking. There is currently no correlation between where we are building new homes and quality public transport, severely limiting the choice for people who can’t, or don’t, want to drive everywhere. We have to plan more intelligently. New developments should be built around really good public transport from day one, otherwise we are consigning hundreds of thousands of people to car dependency and traffic chaos.”

Under the Government’s housing plan, some local authorities will need to double, triple or even quadruple the number of new homes they are building each year to meet new targets. In some of these local authority areas, Transport for New Homes found the level of satisfaction with the quality of public transport was very low – with considerably more people dissatisfied than satisfied – and often half that of regional satisfaction levels. 

Examples of high housing targets and low public transport satisfaction: 

• Castle Point Borough Council has to build 595% more housing per annum to meet its new targets, yet satisfaction with public transport in the area is -18% versus a regional average of -5%.
• Fareham Borough Council has to build 406% more housing per annum, yet satisfaction with public transport in the area is -14% versus a regional average of 4%.
• Derbyshire Dales District Council has to build 161% more housing per annum to meet its new targets, yet satisfaction with public transport in the area is -24% versus a regional average of -12%.
• East Hampshire District Council has to build 159% more housing per annum to meet its new targets, yet satisfaction with public transport in the area is -24% versus a regional average of 4%.
• Malvern Hills District Council has to build 140% more housing per annum to meet its new targets, yet satisfaction with public transport in the area is -29% versus a regional average of -13%.
• Calderdale Council has to build 116% more housing per annum to meet its new targets, yet satisfaction with public transport in the area is -38% versus a regional average of-18%.

In areas that scored between -25% and -50% for the quality of public transport in their local area, Transport for New Homes found there were still high housing targets:

• Somerset Council has to build 37% more new homes but has a public transport satisfaction rating of -41%, versus a regional average of -18%.
• Staffordshire Moorlands District Council has to build 107% more new homes but has a public transport satisfaction rating of -41%, versus a regional average of -13%.
• Calderdale Council has to build 116% more homes but has a public transport satisfaction rating of -38%, versus a regional average of -18%.
• Rutland County Council has to build 164% more homes and has a public transport satisfaction rating of -33%, versus a regional average of -12%.
• Malvern Hills District Council has to build 140% more homes, but has a public transport satisfaction rating of -29% versus -13% regionally.
• Cotswold District has to build 189% more homes and has a public transport satisfaction rating of -28% versus -18% regionally.
• Bromsgrove District Council has to build 343% more homes and has a public transport satisfaction rating of -27%, versus -13% regionally.

Jenny Raggett, Project Coordinator at Transport for New Homes, said: “Housing targets aimed at rural or semi-rural parts of the country and a developer-led choice of location, are plonking more and more giant housing estates on fields on the edge of towns and villages, places where it’s all about driving. The result is increased congestion, limited housing choices for those who don’t want to drive everywhere, and dying town centres. The planning system needs to direct building in more sustainable locations that will work with new and existing public transport infrastructure and promote regeneration and economic growth.”

Transport for New Homes’ recent report, What is being built in 2025? In search of the station, revealed housing targets aimed at rural parts of the country and a developer-led choice of location are creating car-dependent estates far away from major urban areas and isolated from good public transport. The report made three recommendations to Government to avoid creating yet more car-dependent sprawl:

• Build transit-oriented developments serving residents from day one of occupation.
• New homes must be built in better locations.
• Deliverable masterplans that create delightful walkable and well-connected places.

Read What is being built in 2025? In search of the station in full.

ENDS 

For more information contact media@transportfornewhomes.org.uk.

Notes to Editors

1. Tables with local authority housing targets and corresponding public transport satisfaction scores are available here. A full table of all English local authorities outside London and public transport satisfaction scores is available here.
2. Ipsos’ KnowledgePanel compared the percentage of people who answered satisfied or dissatisfied to the question: ‘generally thinking, how satisfied or dissatisfied are you with each of the following in your local area? – The quality of public transport provided by buses, trains, trams, tube etc.’ to produce a net satisfaction score. The results showed that overall, 38% of UK adults are satisfied with the quality of public transport in their area versus 40% who were dissatisfied, producing an overall net satisfaction score of -2% (the difference between ‘satisfied’ and ‘dissatisfied’). Source: Ipsos UK KnowledgePanel MRP model, fieldwork 19-25 September 2024 with 20,835 UK adults aged 16+ https://ipsos-insight-llc.foleon.com/understanding-society/public-services-2025/transport 
3. Local authority housing targets: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/675aaeca9f669f2e28ce2b91/lhn-outcome-of-the-new-method.ods
4. The Government’s overall target of 1.5 million homes is distributed to local authorities by the use of an algorithm it has created. The algorithm does not use artificial intelligence as to where best to concentrate new housing, but instead takes into account only two things: the total number of homes in a given local authority area, and the ratio of house price to local wages. The thinking is that the bigger the discrepancy between average house price and average earnings, the more homes need to be built in that area to bring house prices down. Other things like local job availability or public transport connections don’t come into it. Public transport is left out of the equation
5. What is being built in 2025? In search of the station, looked at nearly 40 new housing developments, including four in Europe (Germany and Sweden). Volunteers visited each development and looked at the type and mix of housing, transport links, layout and on-site facilities, and concluded that nearly every greenfield development was oriented around the car. None of the large-scale housing greenfield developments visited for the report were on metro or tram systems, buses were in many cases infrequent or insufficient and went to limited destinations, and safe and convenient active travel options did not connect the development to places people wanted to go to. The report only identified one large-scale greenfield development, Poundbury in Dorset, which it considered to be a vibrant ‘self-contained’ community on account of being genuinely mixed use and built from the start for walking rather than driving.
6. Transport for New Homes believes that everyone should have access to attractive housing, located and designed to ensure that people do not need to use or own cars to live a full life. Transport for New Homes is a social enterprise (company number 13488016).