"What have I been writing and warning about for the last several years?
That the Tories and Labour's collusion on freeports and SEZs would form stepping stones to the building of charter cities.
The latest proposal for a new city named "Forest City" exemplifies the stealth trajectory of the zonification of Britain.
The Forest City Proposal: Key Facts
The Forest City 1 project proposes building a new city for nearly one million people on 45,000 acres of agricultural land between Haverhill and Newmarket in Suffolk East with 400,000 homes and a 12,000-acre forest.
The project was announced by businessmen Shiv Malik and Joseph Reeve.
The Ideological Network
My research has uncovered a revealing network of individuals and organizations backing this project:
Patrik Schumacher - A former Marxist whose viewpoints have been described as anarcho-capitalism, advocating for the full decentralization and privatization of architecture, planning, and development, envisioning a competitive landscape of mini-polities organized as corporations vying in the market for communal living.
He has put forward the political programme of anarcho-capitalism, positing the privatization of everything, including cities with all their infrastructures, public spaces, streets and urban management systems.
James Price - Former SpAD of the Tory Party and the Leader of The House of Lords, now he's a senior fellow at The Adam Smith Institute and Centre for Policy Studies - These are right-wing think tanks promoting free market solutions, with Price listed as affiliated with the CPS.
Dame Patricia Hewitt - A former Labour Secretary of State, now lending her name to this project, illustrating the cross-party appeal of these ideas to certain political actors. “Long-term thinking would endorse the creation of brand new cities in preference to torturing the infrastructure of old towns.”
Marc Sidwell - Editor, CapX. A right-wing digital forum based in Tufton Street, it is an arm of The Centre For Policy Studies, founded by Margaret Thatcher in 1974.
This article by CAPX explores the possibility of building charter cities in the UK, (dated 2020).
https://capx.co/lets-build-hong-kong-2-0-here-in-the-uk
Zander West - Director, Amplify Britain, Basingstoke Labour Party.
Ben Pocklington - Investigation Manager, Revolut. Revolut has been subject to criticism and many controversies, such as issues with customer support and long-lasting lockouts, as well as anti–money laundering compliance failures and lack of support for defrauded customers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolut#Criticism_and_controversies
Fraser Myers - Deputy editor, Spiked. Spiked is a British hard-right Internet magazine focusing on politics, culture and society. The Guardian and De-Smog revealed that Spiked US Inc. received funding from the Charles Koch Foundation between 2016 and 2018 to develop live campus events connected with The Toleration and Free Speech program sponsored by the Charles Koch Foundation.
The SEZ/Freeport Connection
On August 31st 2022 I posted about the possibility of charter cities following the UK duopoly's nationwide rollout of freeports and SEZs. 👇🏻
https://x.com/EuropeanPowell/status/1564893047351136260?s=20
Charter cities are a particular and intensely controversial form of SEZ, generally found in economically developing countries, in which a private company or consortium takes over the laws and regulations of a territory within the host country.
The UK now has 74 deregulated Special Economic Zones and 12 Freeports, with SEZs ranging from 34 to 75km in diameter, In January 2025, Keir Starmer launched AI Growth Zones, which are the digital layer of free zones. Critics argue that freeports and SEZs are stepping stones to charter cities, where governance powers are fully handed over to CEOs under 'localised freedoms'.
Democratic Concerns
The most troubling aspects include:
Lack of local consultation: Local councillor Joe Mason stated that "until the promoters publish credible, evidence-based proposals and engage openly with councils and residents, we should treat this for what it is: a headline grabbing concept, not a serious plan for our communities" Suffolk News.
Top-down imposition: MP Nick Timothy criticised the proposal, saying "They're talking about building a city of a million people right in the middle of West Suffolk, without apparently speaking to a single local resident" Bury Mercury.
Destruction of existing communities: Villages such as Withersfield, Stetchworth and Cheveley, including areas key to the horse racing industry, could be affected, though proponents say villages would be "integrated" into the development East Anglian Daily TimesBury Mercury.
The Broader Pattern
This project exemplifies what I've identified as a progression: freeports → SEZs → charter cities. The involvement of anarcho-capitalist architects, right-wing think tanks, and the framing that combines "left-wing ideals of social ownership with right-wing ambitions for deregulation and enterprise" suggests an attempt to create a new model of governance that fundamentally challenges democratic accountability.
The fact that this is being promoted as both progressive (affordable housing, community ownership) and libertarian (deregulation, enterprise zones) is particularly concerning, as it may obscure the fundamental transfer of power from democratic institutions to private corporate structures.
As always, the broader SEZ/freeport infrastructure deserves much wider public scrutiny and debate": https://x.com/EuropeanPowell/status/1990188968168546316