Britain could build more than a million homes around train stations, but planning rules and fragmented land ownership are getting in the way.
Research from Centre for Cities shows 1.2 million homes could be built around stations and tram stops in Britain’s 12 biggest cities.
The think tank claims London has the most potential, as more than 50,000 properties could be constructed around inner-city stations. This is followed by Glasgow with 183,000 and Manchester with 134,000.
Published on Wednesday, the research found British cities generally have fewer homes near stations than cities in France and Japan. In Sheffield and Liverpool, there are actually less houses near stations than in areas further away.
Places such as Leeds and Bristol face additional problems because they lack enough public transport infrastructure to support larger developments.
With this in mind, the think tank is calling for mayors in England to be given more control over land around railways, including land owned by Network Rail.
It also wants to change planning rules to make it quicker to approve developments around stations.
Anthony Breach, director or policy and research at Centre for Cities, said: ‘Building a lot of homes around existing stations is one of the most effective ways to boost city economies. In a low growth economy like Britain, it is one of the most glaringly obvious problems to fix.
‘Going big on homes around stations will make a significant dent in the housing shortage. It’s worth around a million homes in Britain. It makes public transport far more efficient and cuts commuting times.’
Between 2011 and 2021 Manchester built the most homes near stations outside of London. The Northern city delivered 30,000 properties compared to 300,000 in the capital.
However, over the decade, British cities built less than half as many homes near stations as cities overseas.
Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, said greater local control over stations could help unlock development.
‘We’re already leading the country on station devolution in the Liverpool City Region – and showing what can be achieved when transport, housing and regeneration are planned together.
‘We’ve made good progress, with 36,000 homes built since I was elected and have a pipeline to build a further 64,000 new homes across 300 sites, but this report shows there is much more we could be doing around our rail network.’
The research also looked at stations in the outer suburbs of large cities. It found that an additional 1.1 million homes could be built in these areas, taking the total potential to more than two million.
Image: Sam/UnSplash
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