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Dame Judi angry at eco-town plan in her 'beloved Stratford'
6 April 2008
Dame Judi Dench speaks out against the proposed eco-town in Long Marston
Mail on Sunday
As Elizabeth I, Judi Dench perfectly played the kind of Queen who would pour 'foul scorn' on any threat to England.
As M in the 007 movies she tamed the wayward James Bond and as Lady Catherine de Bourg in Pride And Prejudice she could almost turn men to stone with her contemptuous glare.
So when the Government revealed plans for an 'eco-town' next to Dame Judi's beloved spiritual home, Shakespeare's birthplace of Stratford-on-Avon, it unwittingly picked a fight with a formidable opponent.
Dame Judi, 73, who has made many acclaimed Stratford performances, is incensed by the plans.
"Stratford is a jewel in the crown of the nation's heritage," she stormed.
"There can be very few places in the world of such cultural significance as the town in which the world's greatest dramatist lived and worked. It is folly to put this at risk."
Read More...
Eco-towns: a good day for a climbdown?
4 November 2008
Investigative journalist Chris Ames discusses the timing of the draft PPS publication on The Independent's Open House blog
Open House on The Independent,
by Chris Ames
Is the government executing a climbdown on eco-towns? Today, as attention focuses on the US, the government has finally published some very overdue policies on Gordon Brown's sinking flagship. From the way it's being spun, it looks as if the big idea is being seriously scaled down.
New housing minister Margaret Beckett is now hinting – as press reports have repeatedly suggested – that only one or two of the proposed eco-towns might get her approval when she makes a final decision next year. She explains that "the eco-town standards are tough" but that seems more spin than substance.
The Town and Country... Read More...
Ecotowns are the greatest try-on in the history of property speculation
4 April 2008
The plan for 15 new settlements is a builder's dream - but only our existing cities actually serve the green agenda
The Guardian
by Simon Jenkins
A new old is born. Old green. Old green loves biofuels, windmills and tied cottages. It hates nuclear power and foreign trade. It would rather others starved than permit GM foods. Nor is any green older than the new town movement, now being brought back from the dead by the government with the prefix eco-. It will need a stake and garlic to suppress the thing.
A shortlist of 15 "eco-towns" was announced yesterday by the housing minister, Caroline Flint. It was the 60th anniversary of the "Silkingrads", the ideologically weighty settlements built by old Labour in England's green and Tory countryside. The intention was summed up in Flint's terrifying threat: "We will revolutionise the way people live." When her 1940s predecessor, Lewis Silkin, spoke likewise of "building for the new way of life", his audience... Read More...
Campaigners claim eco-towns will disperse communities
20 May 2008
The Government's plans for a series of eco-towns is helping to disperse communities and weakening their social fabric, the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) claimed today.
From: Press Association National Newswire
A report from the CPRE called for a housing policy which supports "high density living" in which people live closer together and near to amenities such as schools, shops and healthcare.
The conservation charity said settlements in which people lived in closer proximity to one another would boost community interaction and make public transport, local services and environmental initiatives more viable.
The Proximity Principle study said the 20th century had seen people dispersed widely into suburbs and new towns, causing loss of countryside, pressure on water resources and a growing carbon footprint.
But while recent policies do support higher density living, brownfield development and better public transport, the Government is still encouraging large new settlements and a focus on road transport, the report said.
The plans for eco-towns, which would be separate new settlements of 5,000 to 20,000... Read More...
Protesters significantly raise the 'ante'
15 April 2008
The raucous anti eco-town protest outside district council headquarters this week, which forced police to close Church Street for more than 30 minutes, marked a significant ‘upping of the ante’ in the campaign against Middle Quinton.
From: Stratford Herald
There were an estimated 300 protesters outside Elizabeth House on Monday, most of whom wore yellow T-shirts and brandished placards, flags and badges emblazoned with ‘Stop the Eco-Town.’
Although smaller than the 1,000-strong crowd who marched down the Greenway in February, before the eco-town had been shortlisted by government, it was clear that emotions are running higher than they were on the march to Long Marston. That was a veritable walk in the park with the protesters seeming to be as concerned with organising their social diaries as with protesting. In contrast, on Monday, they blocked the road, forcing police to divert traffic, and chanted raucously “Get off the fence”, “Sneco eco” and “Pain no gain,” though one campaigner was heard to mutter: “I don’t really approve of all this chanting.”
The protest, timed to coincide with the special Stratford... Read More...
With all those votes for, who would dare be against?
Stratford Herald, 15 May 2008
It was described by Cllr Mike Brain as the biggest single issue Stratford District Council had ever had to debate. With 300 or more protesters outside Elizabeth House and a packed public gallery—not to mention an exceptionally high level of media interest—it was difficult to argue with that. But how would the council handle it? That was the question...
Before Monday’s special meeting of the full council began, the smart money was on councillors backing an option to reject the proposed 6,000-home eco-town at Long Marston, but allowing amendments that would leave the door open for a change of mind once more information was available. A middle way for Middle Quinton, if you like.
But the pressure had become so intense that anything that smacked of a fudge would have been branded as an unforgivable cop-out. In the end every single member of the council present at the meeting intoned the word “For” when asked for his or her opinion on a motion committing the council to outright opposition to the project.
There was an unusual amount of electricity in the council chamber as chairman Cllr Stuart Beese (Cons, Stratford) and other senior figures strode in to take their seats at the start of the meeting. With television cameras present (it was also going out live on the council’s website) the... Read More...
Stratford deals blow to ecotown plans
13 May 2008
Plans for new "ecotowns" across the country suffered a setback yesterday when councillors unanimously rejected an earmarked site
Hundreds of banner-waving protesters gathered outside the meeting in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwicks, to voice their disapproval of a proposed settlement for up to 20,000 people at nearby Middle Quinton. The plans for 10 towns, the first to be built in Britain for 40 years, have led to nationwide protests.
The actors Dame Judi Dench and John Nettles are among those backing BARD (Better Accessible and Responsible Development), a resident's protest group in Stratford.
Yesterday Johnny Herbert, the racing driver, who lives locally, spoke of his concern about the impact of a 6,000-house new town. One councillor compared the plan to the Soviet Union in the 1950s. Mr Herbert told The Daily Telegraph: "Take it from me, driving won't be much fun round here when the new town... Read More...
Latest Entries
- Dame Judi angry at eco-town plan in her 'beloved Stratford'
- Eco-towns: a good day for a climbdown?
- Ecotowns are the greatest try-on in the history of property speculation
- Campaigners claim eco-towns will disperse communities
- Protesters significantly raise the 'ante'
- With all those votes for, who would dare be against?
- Stratford deals blow to ecotown plans