Recommendations of Reith Commission 1945

—  new towns should be located sufficiently far from their mother city at least 40 km from London and 20km from other metropolises;

—  they should target a population of 20,000 to 60,000 inhabitants;

—  they should feature predominately single-family housing, albeit with much lower density rates;

—  they should be built, as far as possible, on greenfield sites;

—  a green belt should be created around the new towns;

—  quality sites should be chosen, but outside areas of exceptional natural beauty, which had to be preserved;

—  housing had to be organised in neighbourhood units around a primary and nursery school, a pub and shops selling staple goods, with in every case a meeting-room for clubs and voluntary groups to meet;

—  a balance had to be struck between housing and jobs, by making it obligatory for the development corporation to offer every business moving into the new town one housing unit for each job created.