THE BARD CAMPAIGN RESPONDS TO THE ECO-TOWN SHORTLIST ANNOUNCEMENT

The BARD Campaign cautiously welcomes elements of today's eco-town announcement as possible good news for the future of Long Marston.

‘Middle Quinton' has not been included in today's announcement as a decision will not be made until the Autumn following the West Midlands RSS report, however the Housing Minister's statement today provided some hope for the residents of Warwickshire/Worcestershire and the Cotswolds.

John Healey announced that the first wave locations are "all led or strongly supported by their local authorities" and "are not isolated developments in the middle of the countryside".

The BARD Campaign strongly supports this principle which would clearly lead to the rejection of ‘Middle Quinton'.

David Bliss, Chairman of BARD said:

"We are optimistic that the Housing Minister's comments today suggest that ‘Middle Quinton' will not be taken forward to the next stage of the eco-towns programme once the decision is made. After today's announcement it would be utterly perverse of the Government to pursue an isolated development in the middle of the countryside which has no support from local authorities.

"However, taxpayers will be dismayed to learn that some 2 years and several million pounds later, the Government's disastrous eco-town programme has only resulted in a possible 19,000 towards its total target of 240,000 by 2016.

"Rarely in the history of planning policy have so many resources been diverted for so long towards a programme that has delivered so little. Think what could have been achieved had the Government listened to popular calls for eco-quarters from the start, instead of dogmatically pursuing a programme with so many ill-suited sites under consideration."

ENDS

NOTES

The BARD Campaign is the group against the proposed 'Middle Quinton' eco-town between Stratford-upon-Avon and Evesham in Warwickshire/Worcestershire, on former MoD-owned land at Long Marston lying adjacent to the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

The CLG's assessment of whether or not to shortlist ‘Middle Quinton' remains undecided until later this year. This results from the CLG's last-minute decision to charge the West Midlands Regional Spatial Strategy's Panel of Inspectors with considering the merits of an eco-town in the West Midlands region during its Examination in Public in June. The EiP's report is expected to be delivered to Government in the Autumn, after which the Government will determine ‘Middle Quinton's' fate.

‘Middle Quinton' has been opposed by MPs - John Maples (Stratford-on-Avon), Peter Luff (Mid Worcestershire) and Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Cotswolds) among others and every local authority affected by the proposal: 15 Parish Councils, 4 Town Councils, 3 District Councils, 2 City Councils, 2 County Councils and the West Midlands Regional Assembly.

The BARD Campaign is backed by thousands of local residents, who have signed a petition opposing the proposal, and celebrities Dame Judi Dench, John Nettles, Jilly Cooper, Johnny Herbert and Julian Lloyd-Webber.