why do you need to build cities from scratch?
people are unwilling to move as it is yet you want to enforce it?
you can buy a flat in cumbernauld for £10K.
rather than build a city from scratch why don't they all move to cumbernauld?
the average house price in Scotland is only £150k
And you can buy acres of land in the middle of Sudan for £100. We need to build where people want to live, cities within vicinities of areas that people want to live in. Just because people don't want to live in Cumbernauld doesn't mean new cities within 1 hour of London won't be attractive.
UK's housing shortage is in millions according to any report you want to read. 10 cheap flats in the middle of nowhere doesn't solve it as much as you want to pretend it does.