The prospectus sets out a package of support, including advisory support, capacity funding and assistance in gaining necessary consents, which the government will offer to help communities work up proposals for and develop garden cities.
The government said in the prospectus that it expects proposed garden city schemes to have the full backing of all local authorities in which they are located. It said that developments should comprise 15,000 or more homes and provide the "full range of commercial, retail, educational and community facilities that people need".
The prospectus also said that expressions of interest which include a "significant element" of brownfield land would be particularly welcome.
"Garden cities are communities where future generations will live, work, have children, grow up and grow old," said deputy prime minister Nick Clegg in a statement. "Today I’m publishing a new garden cities prospectus, which calls for local areas to submit their plans for garden cities that will provide affordable homes, good schools, and jobs for the next generation, while at the same time preserving the countryside."
"This is a call to arms for visionaries in local areas in need of housing to put forward radical and ambitious proposals to develop their own garden cities," Clegg said.
The prospectus follows the announcement by chancellor George Osborne in the 2014 Budget that the government will create an urban development corporation to bring forward a 15,000-home garden city in Kent.
