As the UK embarks on an ambitious national housebuilding drive, a crucial question hangs over the future of our urban landscapes: will our newest communities inherit a rich framework of green infrastructure, or will they repeat the mistakes of the past?
Campbell Park, Milton Keynes. Photo: David A Bailey
This September, The Gardens Trust – the statutory body dedicated to protecting and conserving England’s heritage of designed landscapes – is bringing together leading academics, developers, and policymakers to address this challenge head-on. The two-day national conference, titled New Town Landscapes: Learning from the Past, Shaping the Future, takes place at the MK Gallery in Milton Keynes on 23 and 24 September.
The goal is urgent: ensuring high-quality public and private green spaces remain central to 21st-century planning, design, governance, and community life.
Lessons from history: Victorian density vs. post war vision
The national debate over housing supply is not new, and neither are its potential pitfalls. As The Gardens Trust highlights, rapid housebuilding without statutory green space protections has historically carried severe social and environmental costs.
During the Victorian housing boom, rapid industrialisation drew millions into urban factories and mills. Left to commercial developers operating without adequate legislation, housing was built rapidly at maximum density without green space. The result was dirty, overcrowded, and polluted urban environments with unhealthy populations – a public health crisis that eventually sparked the Victorian public park movement to provide “the lungs of the city.”
“New Towns represent some of the most ambitious urban experiments of the 20th and 21st centuries. As many face renewal, adaptation, or reimagining, there is an urgent need to reflect on their origins, lived experiences, and long-term trajectories.”
— John Watkins, Chair of The Gardens Trust
In stark contrast, post-war Britain took a far more enlightened approach. When planners designed the mid-20th-century ‘New Towns’, they began with a framework of green space, parks, and parkways. In places like Milton Keynes, entire developments were structured around green infrastructure, anchored by major civic landscapes like Campbell Park, a great example of how community needs and high-density living can coexist through thoughtful design.
Statutory expertise under threat: protecting England’s green heritage
The conference comes at a critical time for heritage conservation. The Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government (MHCLG) is currently considering consultation responses on proposals to remove several statutory consultees, including The Gardens Trust, from the planning process in an effort to speed up development approvals.
The Trust warns that stripping cultural, social, and horticultural expertise from the planning system leaves England’s most cherished landscapes exposed. Sites listed on the Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest, including landmark London sites like the historic gardens of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, the venue for the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, could face significant risk without expert oversight.
Without professional input, local authorities will be ill-equipped to evaluate new development proposals, threatening the unique green character that underpins local civic pride.
Supporting local conservation across London
As one of 35 local volunteer County Garden Trusts (CGTs) affiliated with and supported by The Gardens Trust, London Gardens Trust sees the impact of these national policies firsthand across the capital’s 33 boroughs. From historic garden squares and heritage parks to new urban developments, integrating green infrastructure remains vital to health, biodiversity, and climate resilience.
“The Gardens Trust is determined to ensure the government’s major housebuilding programme fully recognises the need for careful infrastructure planning, plentiful well-designed public and private green space, and a focus on fostering nature recovery,” adds Watkins.
Conference details & partner collaboration
Organised in partnership with FOLAR (Friends of Landscape Architects) and the Landscape Foundation, the conference features contributions from the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI), the Landscape Institute, and Historic Environment Scotland. Eden Project founder Sir Tim Smit also serves as a Vice-President of The Gardens Trust.
New Town Landscapes: Learning from the Past, Shaping the Future takes place at the MK Gallery in Milton Keynes on 23 and 24 September. Early bird discounts apply until 15 August.
To learn more about the campaign to conserve England’s Registered Parks and Gardens or to support local historic green space preservation, visit www.thegardenstrust.org
London Parks & Gardens’ Inventory provides public access to a wealth of information on over 2,500 parks, gardens, squares, churchyards, cemeteries and other sites of historic interest across the whole of London. This comprehensive database is maintained by our dedicated team of volunteers.