Eco-town media links

Local and national press media links on the ongoing eco-town process - updated 29 August 2008

Norwich Advertiser 29 August 2008

THE developer behind plans to build an eco-town of up to 10,000 homes on a former Norfolk RAF base has said he is seriously considering pulling the plug on his bid.

Richard Davies said he had “lost his appetite” for building a sustainable community on land at RAF Coltishall in Scottow and was considering withdrawing his proposal.

However, he reiterated his disgust that planning permission had been granted to build a 500-place category C prison on part of the 630 site and said even if he ditched his eco-town bid he was still serious about taking the decision to judicial review.

He said: “I have no appetite at this stage of the game for looking at Coltishall as an eco-settlement.

“Over the next week I will decide, in conjunction with advice from my lawyers, whether to withdraw the application.”

Mr Davies said he was sorry that Coltishall could miss out of the chance of a “world class development” but said he had been “appalled at the local politicians who ganged up against the Coltishall eco-town,” and had concerns that a future Conservative government may put at stop to the eco-town building policy altogether.

Proposal for eco-town abandoned

BBC Online 28 August 2008

Proposals for an 8,000-home eco-town at a greenfield site in Cambridgeshire have been abandoned after supermarket giant Tesco pulled out.

The controversial development at Hanley Grange, near the A11 and Duxford, was one of 15 carbon neutral towns picked by the government earlier this year.

The scheme's other main landowner, the charity Wellcome Trust, pulled out in July.

Tesco said it had not ruled out future development of the land.

Campaigners against the plans, who formed the Stop Hanley Grange (SHG) group, welcomed Tesco's decision.

Local councillor Julie Redfern, chairman of SHG, said: "We are delighted that Tesco has seen sense and this is a victory for local democracy."

Bedford Today 28 August 2008

Residents, schools, business and community groups across Mid-Bedfordshire are being invited to attend a series of roadshows about plans to build a 15,000-home eco-town.

The events are being hosted by project developer O & H Properties Ltd between August and October.

The scheme is one of 13 potential sites earmarked by the Government for an eco-town, and would see 15,000-plus new homes being built on greenfield and brownfield land in Marston Vale by 2020.

But the plans have generated widespread opposition from residents, who have branded it an "eco-con". And last week residents' groups in both Lidlington and Marston Moretaine reiterated their opposition after reports in a national newspaper that Marston Vale is one of the sites most likely to be given the go-ahead by the Government.

Leader: Using leftovers

The Guardian 20 August 2008

John Anderson et al (Letters, August 15) welcome the ecotown concept, but suggest it may not succeed in sustainability terms. We should be bolder in our planning and recognise that smaller communities, including those using "greenfield sites", can be very sustainable places to live and work and should be allowed where appropriate. Ecotowns should face rigorous planning assessment, but if the nimbys triumph, the causes of responding to climate change and providing good affordable family homes will both have been done a disservice.

Gideon Amos, Town & Country Planning Association

Eco-town plans in doubt as short list delayed

Telegraph Online 19 August 2008

The future of the Government's controversial plans for eco-towns has been thrown into fresh doubt as more developers pull out.

A list of 16 bids to build the towns, which was drawn up in April, had already been cut to 13 after three applicants - from areas in Lincolnshire, Staffordshire and Bedfordshire - pulled out.

Now it has emerged that three more, in Norfolk, North Yorkshire and Cambridgeshire, are also suffering problems, while plans for another in South Yorkshire have been cut back from 15,000 homes to 5,000.

Developers in Selby, in North Yorkshire - have had their proposals blocked by local authorities, while a partner in the scheme at Hanley Grange, near Cambridge, has withdrawn. The Government has won permission to build a prison on the proposed site of the eco-town in Coltishall, Norfolk.

Earlier this month Caroline Flint, the Housing Minister, has disclosed in a little-noticed document that the final shortlist of locations for the towns, which was due to be published in October, will now not be released until next year.

Eco-towns Q&A

Contract Journal 19 August 2008

Eco-towns are proposed as a magic solution to housing shortages and carbon excess, but they have also attracted their fair share of controversy. CJ looks at the issues behind eco-towns.

What are eco-towns?
Eco-towns will be entirely new towns of between 5,000 and 20,000 homes, designed to strict environmental guidelines. The whole town must be zero carbon, which means it must generate more renewable energy itself than it takes from the national grid. They must also be exemplar in one aspect of environmental technology.

The eco-towns must have a separate and distinct identity with good links to nearby settlements. Between 30% and 50% of homes must be affordable with a mix of house sizes. The towns must also contain their own schools, shops and business and facilities.

Where will the eco-towns be situated?
The government announced 15 sites for eco-towns in its shortlist in April. But only 10 sites will eventually be chosen. None of the homes will be built on green belt land and many are proposed for brownfield land such as disused airfields and former mining pits. Detractors have pointed out that 12 of the 15 shortlisted towns are proposed for Conservative-held constituencies.

The eco-town shortlist is constantly being revised as bidders drop out. Since April, developers have withdrawn their bids for eco-towns in Manby and Curborough. Plans to build 15,000 homes at Rossington have been scaled down to 5,000 homes and the 13,000 home eco-town at Hanley Grange has been scaled down to 6,500 homes. Meanwhile, Norfolk’s Coltishall eco-town is in doubt after the government won permission to build a prison on the site.

When will the eco-towns be built?
The government wants to build five eco-towns by 2016 and up to another five by 2020. It has appointed a panel of 12 experts to advise and support developers with their proposals. But they don’t have the final say. Ministers will make the final decision.

The government had expected to release the shortlist of 10 locations at the end of 2008 but this has been delayed until some time in 2009. Successful bidders will then be invited to submit their planning applications. The length of time an application will take will depend on the complexity of the bid, but delays are expected because of major opposition. The government hopes work will start on the first eco-towns by 2010.

Financial Times August 19 2008

Ministers have been forced to delay the timetable for implementing Gordon Brown's eco-towns scheme, in the latest -setback to the project.

A shortlist of applicants due to be published in October will not come out until next year, it has emerged. In addition, there is evidence that ministers may be starting to row back from their target of 10 towns.

The government drew up a list of 16 applicants in April. Three of those dropped out but the Financial Times has established that three others - in Norfolk, north Yorkshire and near Cambridge - are facing difficulties.

One more - in Rossington, South Yorkshire - has been reduced from 15,000 homes to just 5,000. In Coltishall, Norfolk, the government has just won permission to build a prison on the same site as the proposed eco-town.

At Hanley Grange, near -Cambridge, a partner in the proposed scheme has withdrawn. In Selby, north Yorkshire, developers have been blocked by local authorities.

The government admitted it was being forced to delay the announcement of its shortlist in a little-noticed line in a recent statement on green transport plans for eco-towns.

The Department for Communities and Local Government said ministers needed more time to reconsider submissions whose details had been revised. It insisted most schemes were still going ahead and the "proof will be in the pudding" as to which would be a success.

Decision on 'eco-towns' delayed

BBC News 19 August 2008

Final approval will not be given to up to 10 "eco-towns" planned across England until early 2009 - three months later than originally forecast.

This is because a second consultation stage will run from September until December, the Department for Communities and Local Government said.

Fifteen sites were proposed but two have since dropped out of the running.

Some critics think the plans may not be scrutinised properly, while others fear local infrastructures will not cope.

There are strict criteria for the towns to ensure they meet certain environmental standards.

At least one person per household should be able to have a car-free journey to work, while the average home should be within a 10-minute walk of "frequent" buses or trains plus shops and other services.

Each town will have between 5,000 and 20,000 properties and must be "zero-carbon" overall.

The Local Government Association has said it disapproved of the government's role in drawing up and approving such schemes.

The Evening Standard 19 August 2008

LABOUR'S flagship 'eco-towns' plan has been delayed amid fears that there is a lack of applicants for the housebuilding expansion.

In the latest setback, a shortlist of applicants due to be published in October will not come out until next year, it emerged today.

Ministers may be starting to back-pedal from their original target of 10 towns taking part in the scheme. The Government had a longlist of 16 applicants, drawn up in April. Three of those dropped out but it appears that three more, in Norfolk, north Yorkshire and near Cambridge, now face difficulties.

The Sunday Times 17 August 2008

CAROLINE FLINT, the housing minister, faces a backlash in her own constituency after it emerged that a former mining community she represents is likely to be selected for one of the first eco-towns.

Whitehall insiders predict that plans for 5,000 new environmentally friendly homes on the site of an old coal mine in the deprived area of Rossington, Doncaster, will get the go-ahead next year.

It is one of three eco-towns regarded as likely to be built.

Flint maintains that the developers are not being given preferential treatment and has appointed a junior minister to deal with the proposal to avoid accusations of a conflict of interest.

Local residents, however, insist that the scheme is fundamentally flawed and have accused Flint of hypocrisy. They question her commitment to the environment, highlighting her support for a new airport offering cheap flights just three miles from the site of the proposed eco-town.

Terry Wilde, chairman of Rossington parish council, said: "This is a completely harebrained idea. Who on earth is going to buy these houses? This is a very low income area. What is needed is more council housing."

Flint is examining a shortlist of eco-town proposals, whittled down from more than 60 applications. Just 10 remain on the shortlist, after a string of developers pulled out.

Letter: Ecotown plans are not sustainable

The Guardian 15 August 2008

As a development model, the ecotown is to be welcomed. However, as former presidents of the Royal Town Planning Institute, we hold serious reservations about the way in which sites for these developments have been promoted (Germaine Greer, G2, August 11). Some of the proposed ecotowns derive from a clear planning process, but others represent an undermining of planning policy at both regional and local level. Some have simply provided excuses for landowners to reintroduce tired schemes that have already been rejected within a legitimate planning process. It is our view that this approach is wrong.

A fundamental relationship, particularly in view of energy costs, has to be that between development and infrastructure, not least in the provisions for efficient public transport. We find little reassurance on this point within most of the ecotowns proposed so far. The priorities of promoting urban renewal and expansion remain: there are no easy solutions. The use of brownfield sites represents a creditable achievement by the government. We must now seek better procedures to redevelop run-down areas and establish interdisciplinary skills to deliver sustainable solutions - skills which can be applied from inception and planning to final build. Many must be involved - not only all in design and development and those representing local interests, but those who may bring experience in economics and in sociology to town development.

Securing the best development is a very complex business; to support it, a strong planning system is essential. We find it regrettable that a government which professes to endorse sustainability is pursuing an approach which, except in two or three important instances, is likely to achieve exactly the opposite.

John Anderson
Martin Bradshaw
Stephen Byrne
John Collins
And 10 other former presidents of the Royal Town Planning Institute

Tories demand firm date for eco-town shortlist

The Daily Telegraph 2 August 2008

The Conservatives have challenged Caroline Flint, the Housing Minister, to provide a firm date for the announcement of a shortlist of up to 10 controversial eco-towns amid further signs that the entire project is in trouble.

Last month Ms Flint revealed, in a little-noticed statement, that the original deadline for the publication of the shortlist was being delayed from its original slot of October until the new year.

However she did not provide an exact date amid growing speculation that the entire programme is coming under increasing pressure amid rows between Downing Street and senior civil servants.

Last night Grant Shapps, the shadow housing minister, said: “The one certainty is that confusion reigns at the heart of Labour’s controversial eco-town project.

“Local residents have been left in limbo as Caroline Flint performs U-turn after U-turn. She must set out a clear timetable for the eco-town project and end the uncertainty hanging over local communities."

'Ridiculous' deals for eco-town

Leicester Mercury 2 August 2008

The Co-op is offering "ridiculous" big-money deals to get Leicester City Council to back proposals for the controversial 15,000-home eco-town Pennbury, it has been claimed.

The claim was made after it emerged the city council has met with the Co-op on six occasions since February, including on four occasions in June.

The council said it has nothing to hide. It said it should get the "best deal" for Leicester as it believes it is likely Pennbury will be built on the site between Leicester, Great Glen and Stoughton.

However, Thurncourt conservative councillor John Allen said the council is giving the developer special treatment.

The council has given Coun Allen dates and details of meetings between the Co-op and the council, but he said he should never have had to ask for them.

'Bury' eco-town rally cry

Selby Times 4 August 2008

CAMPAIGNING councillors this week again called on MPs to bury controversial plans for an eco-town on their doorstep.
Selby District Council Eggborough ward members Coun John and Mary McCartney wrote to Parliamentary Under Secretary of State Iain Wright MP urging him to end "six months of anxiety" for residents over the Willow Green scheme.

The latest move comes after it emerged the 15,000-home green settlement proposed for land near Eggborough and Kellington came last out of four district sites in a sustainability survey.

Coun Mary McCartney, who also urged MP John Grogan to aid their plea, said: "We know Willow Green has failed to match the government's own criteria for an eco-town.

New site for eco-town emerges

Norfolk Eastern Daily Press 2 August 2008

A village on the edge of Norwich last night emerged as a potential front runner for a 4,000 home eco-town after being warmly welcomed by housing minister Caroline Flint.

The group of council leaders behind the zero carbon eco-town formally made their case to the government yesterday and were immediately told by the minister their plan had “a lot of potential”.

The Rackheath proposal now looks poised to beat an alternative plan at the former RAF Coltishall airbase which has caused widespread controversy across Norfolk since it was suggested. The Coltishall plan received a further blow on Wednesday when a plan to build a prison on part of the base was given the go ahead.

Although Rackheath has been mentioned previously as a potential option, yesterday saw a range of details put on the table for the first time as the leaders of Broadland, South Norfolk, Norwich and Norfolk councils all lent their support.

04/08/08

Press clippings for UK national press - August 2008

Eco-town media links

Local and national press media links on the ongoing eco-town process - updated 29 August 2008

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