Tower block 'new town' is 'not financially viable'

'LIKELY TO NEED A HUGE GOVERNMENT INVESTMENT'

- By WILLIAM TELFORD

PLYMOUTH city centre’s proposed tower block “new town” of 10,000 homes may not be financially viable and is likely to need huge Government investment, a key report says.

The Government's own taskforce has said the project is likely to be financially “challenging” until it is proved that people want to live in the city centre.

It said actually attracting people to live in the city centre in the next 10 years could be “difficult” And it said Plymouth City Council is already asking for cash to pay for upfront costs.

The report to ministers by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, on behalf of the New Town Taskforce, raises questions about how the scheme will be paid for.

The newly published 135-page report details the case for a dozen sites for new towns around the country and has gone into detail about each proposed scheme, including Plymouth’s.

The aim is to build more than 10,000 homes “across multiple sites’ with architects already looking at 30 tower blocks in the city centre. The report said this would “transform the centre” which currently only has about 1,000 homes in its “core” area.

The report said the key driver for the new town is the Ministry of Defence's commitment to invest an extra £4.4bn in Devonport naval base in the next decade, with an additional commitment to the nuclear deterrent programme until 2070. The report said that by 2040, more than 25,000 additional “economically active” residents will be needed in Plymouth.