The areas where 1.3m new homes could be built near UK train stations

James Street railway station is in the heart of Liverpool – just a few minutes’ walk from the famous docks in one direction, and The Beatles Museum in another. More than 3.1 million passengers passed through its gates in 2024-25. But the area around it remains underdeveloped as a place for people to live. Directly opposite the station entrance, a prime corner plot of land has been vacant since 2010 – despite efforts to build a block of luxury apartments. Crown House, a 1950s office building next door to James Street station, has also been empty for more than 20 years, despite numerous attempts to convert it into flats. The station is a prime example of an inner-city area that experts believe Andy Burnham can target to deliver on his pledge to build 1.5 million homes this Parliament. A new report from the Centre for Cities, a think-tank close to Burnham, suggests at least 1.2 million homes alone could be built near train stations in Britain’s largest cities. ‘Significant dent in housing shortage’ Anthony Breach, the think-tank’s director of policy and research, said “going big on homes around stations will make a significant dent in the housing shortage”. It is also “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.” Britain has generally been poor at building homes around public transport networks – with dense housing next to stations far more common in countries such as France and Japan, the think-tank says. If Liverpool had built houses around Merseyrail stations at the same rate as their French and Japanese peers, there would be a further 142,000 more homes. The area adjacent to James Street station could accommodate at least 3,000 more homes, the study found. The same number of new houses could be built in at least eight of the Metrolink stations in Manchester city centre and at Salford’s Central rail station. In London alone, the think-tank estimates half a million “missing” homes around London stations, with a further 183,000 in Glasgow and 134,000 in Manchester. In some cities, such as Sheffield and Liverpool, the density of homes is actually lower near stations than further away from them. Network Rail ‘too slow to hand over land’ Burnham has announced national planning rule changes forcing councils to give a default “yes” to new homes proposed within 800 metres of train, tram and underground stations, even if they are on green belt land. But Centre for Cities says the government’s ambitions are likely to get stuck in red tape and delay without further reform. The group wants mayors to have more power to take control of land around stations from Network Rail. The government body is estimated to own at least 52,000 hectares of land across the country. In Liverpool, the mayoral authority signed a memorandum of understanding to take control of stations in 2023 – but three years later the first stations are still being transferred. Experts say this is partly because authorities are required to demonstrate to regulators that they can run stations safely. One solution from the Centre for Cities is a “fast track” process so that mayors can enter “partnerships” with Network Rail more quickly. Mayors: ‘Give us greater control’ The think-tank said Burnham’s Government could also make more use of Mayoral Development Corporations (MDCs), which give areas greater powers to assemble land through compulsory purchase and approve planning applications directly. The i Paper reported earlier this week how Burnham sees Stockport – where an MDC has led major regeneration efforts – as the blueprint for the revival of Britain’s towns. Breach said the Government must “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 Rotherham, Labour’s mayor of Liverpool City Region and a close ally of the Prime Minister, said while progress has been made, there is “much more we could be doing around our rail network”. “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.”