Lyons and Barker to lead New Towns Taskforce

Sir Michael Lyons and Dame Kate Barker have been appointed chair and deputy chair respectively of the government’s New Towns Taskforce.

Angela Rayner, deputy prime minister and housing secretary, has called upon Lyons, who chaired the Lyons Housing Review which was commissioned by then Labour leader Ed Miliband, to lead the taskforce for the “largest housebuilding programme since the post-war period”.

These settlements, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) said, would comprise “at least 10,000 homes, although we expect a number to be far larger in size”.

Lyons is currently non-executive chairman of the English Cities Fund, a joint venture with large regeneration developments in London, Liverpool, Plymouth, Salford and Wakefield. He has enjoyed a long career in public service, including 17 years as the ceo of three major UK local authorities.

The Lyons Housing Review examined how the housing crisis could be alleviated.

Economist Dame Kate Barker, who will support Lyons, is the author of 2004’s Barker Review of Housing Supply, commissioned by the previous Labour government. She subsequently authored a review of land use planning. Barker is also a former non-executive director of Taylor Wimpey.

She is currently chair of the Radix …