A new set of forest towns will be built in the area between Oxford and Cambridge, in the middle of a new national forest.
After facing anger from environmental groups to deregulate the future of planning, the ministers are trying to show that mass housebuilding can be sent to new environments. The government has pledged to plant millions of trees to improve England’s environment.
Nature minister Mary Creagh told the Guardian: “A previous Labor government had this great vision of garden cities post world war two and given our promises on tree planting, we thought, how can we create these forest cities which basically bring nature closer to people, green jobs closer to these new communities and help us tackle climate change?”
The Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, announced the investment in the “Ox-cam Corridor” and hopes to link the cities to create “Europe’s Silicon Valley”. The government sees it as important for the UK’s economic growth, and says it could add up to £78bn to the economy by 2035. The government says it will build new cities and railways between the two.
At the same time, a new national forest will be built so that people living and working in the area have green spaces to enjoy, and create high-quality character to complete the urban areas.
Cresagh added that this announcement will be part of Keir Starmer’s Cop30 offering. He said: “The Prime Minister attends the meeting of the leaders of the world leaders, it is a cop in the Amazon jungle and we show as a country that we are riding.”
He added that the model will show that the government and developers can “use trees to build communities and provide beautiful housing for people, where people want to live.”
The houses in the Oxford-Camridgor Corridor are a 10-minute walk from the forest, he said: “Almost to create places where people will build, make their families, where generations of people will go to live and where nature can live.”
Another national forest to be planted in the North of England, with a competition to decide to win the first of the next £ 1bn this parliament to plant trees. In March, the government announced the western forest, which is the first new national forest in three decades and is planned from the cotswolds to the links.
All the departments are asked to link their policies to the “economic growth of the chancellor”, and the Department of the World, the Targets of Vision throughout the 14,000 jobs created and supported. Defra also said it would explore a tree purchase fund, offering UPFront payments to landowners to plant carbon-rich trees.
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The environment secretary, Emma Reynolds, said: “Our forests are vital to regulating our climate, supporting wild trees, and increasing wild trees.
“We have given our commitment to the Manifesto of three new national forests: The planting started in West Nanay, a Cambridge and Cambridge and we will launch a competition for a third year.”
More details of the government’s biodiversity measures are expected in the written environmental development plan, which is expected to be published soon. It will set out how ministers plan to meet the legal environmental targets set out in the 2021 environmental action.