&G ploughs £5bn into new towns

&G ploughs £5bn into new towns

Biggest pension fund manager set for housing spree as coalition rows over building on the green belt

Oliver Shah and Iain Dey Published: 19 January 2014

L&G’s bold proposal is likely to stoke the coalition conflict over new towns (Chris Ratcliffe)

LEGAL & GENERAL will today reveal plans to build five new towns across Britain in the next decade at a cost of up to £5bn.

Britain’s biggest pension fund manager said construction of new towns, and the regeneration of inner cities, was the best way to address the nation’s housing crisis.

It would also meet L&G’s — and the government’s — long-held desire for more pension fund money to be invested in infrastructure.

Nigel Wilson, L&G’s chief executive, told The Sunday Times that Britain needed “innovative housing solutions”, adding: “Demand far outweighs supply, and if we’re going to tackle this problem we should look at what has worked in the past and see how it can be updated.

“If we can bring communities with us and agree planning, we’d like to help build several new towns across the country. We’re already developing towns within cities, in partnership with enlightened local authorities and