Attempts to create new settlements at scale over the last 50 years have failed. They have either led to nothing, led to very little or advanced expensively at a tragically slow pace. When they have created new homes, they have not created new towns but rather just spread out collections of homes with (due to much lower densities) far fewer houses and poor use of public transport. We need to do much better. We therefore suggest five principles for the governance of new town creation.