KUALA LUMPUR: YTL Corp Bhd
's Brabazon property development in Bristol, England, has been named one of 12 locations in the government's taskforce in its vision for the next generation of new towns.
With a £2bil (RM11.33bil) investment, Brabazon is the biggest privately funded, single-developer brownfield site in the UK - situated at the 380-acre former Filton Airfield in North Bristol, which YTL acquired from BAE Systems in 2015.
In a brief note to the press, executive chairman Tan Sri Francis Yeoh said the inclusion in the new town list opens the development to access to government support for the transport links it needs to expand.
"At present planning allows for 6,500 homes, but with new town designation it could deliver up to 25,000, centred around a 20,000-capacity concert venue in one of the former aircraft hangers," he said.
He added that the property, which has a gross development value of about £6.5bil, is expected to create many jobs and spur economic activity with its positive multiplier effects.
Indeed, a local news report has said that with the new town designation, there could also be the creation of 30,000 jobs and £5bil worth of social infrastructure, including three new schools, a GP surgery, and a library.
More than 1,700 homes have been earmarked as affordable, a figure that may rise after Brabazon was designated with the new town status, according to the same news report.
