Focus of work
Our country needs more homes, but right now, too many housing developments lack local shops and services, decent public transport and cycle routes. Some streets even lack pavements. The result is that the people who live there must drive for almost every journey: a recipe for traffic, air pollution and climate change.
Transport for New Homes campaigns for new housing to be built close to existing town centres and public transport links. It thinks that new housing should have:
- Local shops, amenities and jobs just a walk away.
- A network of safe cycle routes and bike parking for every home.
- New stations, trams, modern bus routes and transport interchanges to make public transport the easy choice for longer journeys.
To this end, it visits and reports on new housing estates, lobbies and advises the government and other decision makers, raised awareness through the media, and brings transport and planning professionals together.
Impact
“Research from Transport for New Homes has revealed the serious problem of new settlements and urban extensions being located and designed in ways that exacerbate car dependency”
– Royal Town Planning Institute
Activities and achievements as a result of FIT funding over the years include:
- Published high-profile reports on car-dependent new housing, which have featured on the Today programme and in The Times, The Guardian, and The Telegraph.
- Met with the Department for Transport and the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government to advise on housing and transport.
- Transport for New Homes’ recommendations were adopted by the Committee on Climate Change in its report on new housing, and set the stage for a new government strategy on cycling and walking, which set out the expectation for “sustainable transport issues to be considered from the earliest stages of plan-making and development proposals”.
- Transport for New Homes generated hundreds of responses to the Planning White Paper from members of the public. Responses by organisations including Cycling UK and the Chartered Institution of Highways & Transportation cited the organisation’s research.
- Created tools, including the Transport for New Homes Checklist, for local authorities, developers and neighbourhood groups to identify and improve car-dependent housing plans.
- Conducated a range of events to bring together transport and planning professionals, including an awards ceremony for good developments.
Reports:
What is being built in 2025? In search of the station. Published 2025. A report that uses material from visits to 35 large-scale housing sites to give an insight into whether we are building new homes around sustainable transport, and if not, why not.
Building Car Dependency: The Tarmac Suburbs of the Future. Published 2022. A research report that examines 20 new housing developments across England to find out whether they are built around sustainable transport – or the car.
Garden Villages and Garden Towns: Visions and Reality. Published 2020. A report examining plans for 20 garden communities in detail, as well as the funding and policy landscape behind them, to understand the level of traffic they will create.
Transport for New Homes: Project Summary and Recommendations. Published 2018. A report detailing the findings from field based visits to new housing developments.