Hand control of Network Rail land to metro mayors to unlock a million homes - Centre for Cities

Britain's 12 largest cities are missing 1.2 million homes around inner-city train stations compared to G7 peers, according to research published by the independent think tank Centre for Cities.

In a first-of-its-kind analysis, Centre for Cities has warned that the Prime Minister's commitment to building more homes around stations will move far too slowly without urgent reform of land ownership and planning rules. As it stands, the planning system makes it far too difficult to build new homes in urban areas, and cities have a lack of control over stations and adjacent land. 

The analysis shows, city by city, the number of homes to be gained just by matching the density around stations of peer cities in France and Japan. The biggest potential gains are in London, which is missing more than half a million homes, followed by Glasgow (183,000 homes) and Manchester (134,000 homes). And:

• Unlike its G7 peers, Britain does not generally build more housing near stations  housing density tends to be low everywhere
• In some cities like Sheffield and Liverpool densities are actually lower on average near stations than further away from them

• Over a decade, from 2011, the average British big city built less than half the number of homes near train and tram stations compared to French and Japanese peer cites

Centre for Cities warns that chronically low density in precisely the places where more homes should be built is a significant blocker to economic growth. Solving the density gap around urban stations would reduce Britain's housing shortage by around 25 per cent, according to the analysis. It would also help rejuvenate struggling high streets, cut commutes, grow local labour markets and increase economic productivity.

Manchester is the best performing British city outside London, having built 30,000 homes around its inner-city stations from 2011 to 2021, including Metrolink tram stops that are already under mayoral control. London built 300,000 homes in the same period. Glasgow, Birmingham and Liverpool have also all made significant progress, but a combination of having smaller networks and building fewer homes per station means they still underperform their peers in France and Japan. Cities like Leeds and Bristol are severely constrained by a lack of transport infrastructure in the first place.

Centre for Cities has made several recommendations (applying to England) that should be included in the forthcoming devolution White Paper, to speed up the building of many more homes around stations:

• Create a fast track to speedily transfer land around train stations from Network Rail to mayoral city regions mayors are then financially incentivised to develop the sites.
• Use Mayoral Development Corporations to push forward regeneration around train stations
• Use Mayoral Development Orders to slash delays caused by planning permission holdups guaranteeing development that complies with rules

Anthony Breach, Director of 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. It expands the labor market which is good for productivity. It regenerates areas that residents have seen fall into disrepair.

Fixing this uniquely British problem will deliver significant returns. But the Government must also be clear eyed that without speedy planning reforms and rail devolution good intentions will get stuck in the swamp of delay, red tape and inter-agency bureaucracy.

Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region said:

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.

We want to build on what we've started. Giving us greater control over stations and the land around them would open up more sites for development and help us build the homes our residents need, where the transport links already exist.

The density gap' around stations extends to outer suburbs of large British cities. Matching the density within walking distance of outer suburb stations in large French and Japanese cities would lead to an additional 1.1 million homes in large British cities, bringing the total density gap around urban rail stations to over two million homes.

ENDS

Notes

1. Centre for Cities is the leading independent think tank dedicated to improving the economies of the UK's largest cities and towns. It is a charity that works with local authorities, business and Whitehall to develop and implement policy that supports the performance of urban economies. It does this through impartial research and knowledge exchange. For more information, visit https://www.centreforcities.org/about/

Case studies

• Liverpool has lower densities next to stations than outside them. This is primarily driven by relatively low inner-city density compared to other UK cities. Unusually, Liverpool City Region does control the Merseyrail network. Liverpool City Region signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Network Rail to transfer stations and take greater control of the operation and management of Merseyrail in 2023. This is already unlocking new development in Maghull North (a suburban station) and around the forthcoming Liverpool Baltic station.
• Leeds has the lowest overall rail coverage of Britain's big cities. Despite this, the city has focused on densifying what it does have, with significant densification around Leeds Station. The long-proposed Leeds tram would introduce a mass transit system covering central and south Leeds, which could enable 30,500 homes around its stations alone.
• London is by far the highest-performing British city for station-adjacent housebuilding, having added 287,000 homes in ten years. However, matching the station density of international peers like Paris and Tokyo would unlock an additional 535,000 homes in its urban core alone. Greater mayoral direction over transport-led development, alongside reforms to second staircase rules and space standards, would help address this missing capacity across London's 689 mass-transit stations.