Rachel Reeves is examining how to attract funds from private investors to accelerate the government\u2019s development of new towns in England.<\/p>\n
The chancellor has begun talks with some of the UK\u2019s biggest banks and investment funds about building infrastructure for new towns based on public-private partnerships (PPP) \u2013 a successor to the much-criticised Tony Blair-era private finance initiative (PFI)<\/a>.<\/p>\n Treasury officials have commissioned a research paper from the British Infrastructure Taskforce, a group of leading investors, to establish how private contracts that are likely to be extensive, covering homes and amenities, can support new town developments.<\/p>\n The move, first reported by the Telegraph, is expected to meet with opposition from many left-leaning Labour MPs who have criticised previous attempts to secure private funding for public infrastructure projects, especially hospitals and schools.<\/p>\n Many private funders have also been sceptical of signing PPP deals since the collapse of the building company Carillion<\/a>, which foundered in early 2018 after cost overruns on several hospital projects.<\/p>\n Ministers have put forward seven sites for new towns<\/a>, many of which will be built on land on the outskirts of existing cities.<\/p>\n They include Thamesmead in Greenwich, south London, Tempsford, a new town in Bedfordshire, and urban regeneration in parts of Leeds and Manchester. One of the seven, in Enfield, north London, appears unlikely to go ahead after the new Conservative-controlled council said plans would be refused<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ministers have found it difficult to make headway with the project, citing planning restrictions, the high cost of materials and shortages of skilled labour.<\/p>\n Until now, PPP has only applied to neighbourhood health centres<\/a> and projects to decarbonise public buildings after Labour prevented further deals to build hospitals and schools.<\/p>\n