John Maples, MP for Stratford on Avon met the Housing Minister, Caroline Flint, yesterday evening to discuss the possible new eco town at Long Marston. “I said that the BARD campaign had done an enormous amount of work on the issues involved including several professional studies and that this constituted our response to her consultation. I had the document with me and she promised that her officials would study it as a serious contribution to the debate. I also asked her personally to read the 37 page summary which she promised to do” said John Maples.

“We discussed the various issues including transport, social housing, damage to a beautiful rural area, conflict with other government and local planning policies, car use, sustainability, flooding, the size of the site, etc and she said all these would be taken into account in reaching her decision” said the MP. She acknowledged that there were problems with the site, not least the transport issues, and said that the developers would have to address these”.

The minister confirmed that the timetable was for a draft Planning Policy Statement on eco towns in general to go out to consultation by the end of this month and for the Sustainability Appraisal to be conducted over the next two months with both processes ending in the autumn. She expected to make a decision by the end of the year.

“Caroline Flint promised to visit the site, probably this month, and that she would meet all those involved including representatives of BARD. I asked her to make sure that she looked at the network of country roads that would have to serve the site and the traffic problems in Stratford which would be exacerbated” said John Maples.

“She also confirmed that any planning application would be considered by Stratford District Council in the normal way.”