Ministers have confirmed the locations for seven new towns, which include under-developed inner-city land, a historic village and an existing new town.

The programme is being billed by the housing and communities department as the most ambitious housebuilding project in England for half a century, with the planned construction of between 15,000 and 40,000 homes in each new town.

The new towns are intended to be designed in a coordinated way, with schools, access to healthcare, public transport links and walking and cycling paths to be created at the same time as the homes.

Only one of the locations will be created around a small existing community, as was the case with the various generations of new towns built after the second world war.

Up to 40,000 homes are planned around the Bedfordshire village of Tempsford, which is near the A1, with the new building on a former RAF base.

It will also have a major station interchange, linking the adjoining east coast mainline with a new east-west link between Cambridge and Oxford.

Five of the projects are within or on the edges of major cities, including two in London. Up to 21,000 homes are planned in the Crews Hill and Chase Park new town in Enfield on the northern edge of the capital, and 15,000 homes in Thamesmead, south-east London, helped by extending the Docklands Light Railway.

Two of the urban projects will be relatively central: Victoria North in Manchester, with about 15,000 homes; and Leeds South Bank, with a planned 20,000 homes. The cumbersomely named Brabazon and the West Innovation Arc, with 40,000 homes, is in the north of Bristol.

The final project would include 40,000 new homes in Milton Keynes, itself created from Buckinghamshire farmland and villages as one of the second generation of postwar new towns, and which is now a city.

The seven chosen locations were among a shortlist of 12 unveiled in September. The five other places – Adlington in Cheshire; Heyford Park in Oxfordshire; Marlcombe in East Devon; Plymouth; and Wychavon Town on the edge of Worcester – will not become new towns but are eligible for support through other means, as is a 13th location, South Barking on the eastern edge of London.

Steve Reed said the plan “marks a turning point in how we build for the future”.

The housing secretary said: “From the ground up, we’re planning whole communities with homes, jobs, transport links, and green spaces designed together – so we can give families the security and opportunities they deserve.”