Wei Yang, President of the Royal Town Planning Institute for 2021, has been announced as one of eight experts to join the New Towns Taskforce to deliver new towns that could provide hundreds of thousands of new homes.
Wei is currently the CEO of the Digital Task Force for Planning, Chairman of Wei Yang & Partners and the Chair of the Construction Industry Council. She will be joining the Chair, Sir Michael Lyons, and Deputy Chair, Dame Kate Barker as well as other key players across planning, infrastructure delivery, architecture and urban regeneration on the Taskforce.
The Taskforce met for the first time in Milton Keynes, taking the first steps to push ahead with the vision for new towns, creating largescale communities that could deliver hundreds of thousands of high-quality homes.
Angela Rayner, Deputy Prime Minister, noted the significance of this first step in the new government’s journey to deliver the next generation of new towns. “With a strong team of experts standing by his side, I have every confidence in Sir Michael’s leadership and his Taskforce is working at pace to make sure our long-term ambition becomes a reality,” said Rayner.
The Taskforce has now begun work identifying potential locations for new towns, agreeing principles and standards, exploring new ways to attract future funding and investment, and finding practical solutions to deliver new towns. The members are set to report back in 12 months.