Eco-town media links - June 2008

The latest local and national press links to articles and letters about the eco-town proposals - updated 23 June 2008

Experts critical of eco-town plans

The Daily Telegraph 23 June 2008

AN official report on eco-towns will today find that only "two or three will have real eco credentials'' and that most of the 15 proposals are "just housing estates in the countryside with a green label attached''.

The report by a panel of leading experts in town planning, house building, transport and environment issues will send most of the proposals back to planners with a "must do better note''.

A source on the panel told The Daily Telegraph: "Pressure from ministers will demand 10 [be built], even if some do not meet the environmentally friendly criteria.''

Only a few of the planned eco-towns have been able to meet all the stringent criteria, such as: having good transport links to cities; being built on brownfield sites; using energy supplies from local sustainable sources; and all homes, schools and health centres being carbon neutral.

The authors are also concerned that young people living in the towns, with few leisure facilities and a limited public transport to cities, would turn to drink or drugs. The source said: "The report makes a specific reference to worries that there is a real danger of them becoming the drug capitals of their regions.''

The Government's proposal for up to 10 eco-towns of between 5,000 and 20,000 homes has been condemned by high-profile campaigners including Dame Judi Dench and Tony and Janet Henman, the parents of the former tennis player Tim Henman.

Yesterday the Henmans were joined by thousands of protesters to campaign against Weston Otmoor, a proposed 15,000-home eco-town, near their home in Weston-on-the-Green, near Oxford.

The report, by the Government's "challenge group'', will raise doubts as to whether the Government's plan to meet the housing shortage by eco-friendly means can ever be met.

A spokesman for the Department of Communities and Local Government said: "The whole point of this process was to challenge developers to up their game. Only the best bids stand a chance of becoming eco-towns.''

Meanwhile, Gordon Brown has been warned against "rushing headlong to embrace GM crops''. Sir Martin Doughty, the chairman of Natural England, the Government's countryside and wildlife agency, said GM crops could harm wildlife and there was little evidence that they could be used to balance global food demand with protecting the environment.

His comments are a response to signals from Government ministers that Europe should relax restrictions on GM produce in the face of a world food shortage.

Must do better: report highlights eco-town flaws

The Guardian 23 June 2008

Sites shortlisted to be England's first ecotowns have been strongly criticised for lacking public transport links and other shortcomings by a government advisory panel.

One is dismissed as looking like "a typical commercial scheme" and several will need to significantly improve their plans, a report will make clear today.

But other schemes that have aroused strong local opposition - including Middle Quinton, near Stratford-upon-Avon, Weston Otmoor in Oxfordshire, and Hanley Grange in Cambridgeshire - get more promising verdicts on progress from a group picked by ministers to be "critical friends" to developers competing for the five to 10 schemes to be chosen as eco-towns later this year. The report from the 15-member ecotowns challenge panel, including Red or Dead founder Wayne Hemingway and TV presenters Kris Murrin and Joanna Yarrow, will be seized on by opponents for falling short on zero-carbon, car-curbing and local employment aims.

The Guardian 23 June 2008

The choice of sites put on a shortlist to be England's first ecotowns has been strongly criticised for their lack of adequate public transport links and other shortcomings by a government advisory panel.

One site is dismissed as looking like "a typical commercial scheme", and several will need to significantly improve their plans, a report will make clear today.

Other schemes that have aroused strong local opposition - including Middle Quinton, near Stratford-upon-Avon; Weston Otmoor in Oxfordshire; and Hanley Grange in Cambridgeshire - get more promising verdicts on progress from a group picked by ministers to be "critical friends" to developers competing for the five to 10 schemes to be chosen as eco-towns later this year.

The proposal for Middle Quinton, strongly opposed by actors Dame Judi Dench and John Nettles, and possibly the subject of a legal challenge by protesters, is commended for an aim of 100% recycling and no waste to landfill, although transport is considered to be a problem.

The report from the 15-member panel, which includes Red or Dead founder Wayne Hemingway and the TV presenters Kris Murrin and Joanna Yarrow, will be seized on by opponents for falling short on zero-carbon, car-curbing and local employment aims.

Read more...

Eco-towns just 'greenwash' warns report,

The Sunday Times 22 June 2008

THE "eco-towns" policy promoted by Gordon Brown has suffered a setback with an official report warning that many of the schemes are little more than ordinary housing estates with a green label attached.

The report, to be released tomorrow, says some schemes, whose critics include Dame Judi Dench, need to do far more to tackle pollution and congestion. Some need to be redrawn, while others have no chance of being accepted as eco towns.

A source said: "Some are little more than 'greenwash'. Out of 15 shortlisted proposals, we were not convinced there were 10 that had earned the right to be given the go-ahead."

Those under question include a 600-acre development, largely on greenbelt land, at Weston Otmoor, Oxfordshire, where opposition is led by Tony and Janet Henman, parents of Tim, the former tennis star.

The report by the government's "challenge group" - whose 12 members include Wayne Hemingway, founder of the clothing label Red or Dead and now a housing designer - will raise doubts about whether the prime minister's ambition of meeting the housing shortage by environmentally friendly means can be realised.

Tomorrow's report will be couched in careful language but it is understood that later this week the 12 experts behind it will have a private meeting with Caroline Flint, the housing minister, to advise which proposals should proceed.

Among the projects praised are Bordon in Hampshire, a plan for up to 8,000 homes in a disused Ministry of Defence site; Rossington, where 15,000 properties are earmarked for a former colliery village near Doncaster, South Yorkshire; and Marston Vale near Milton Keynes. Those least likely to go ahead are Ford in West Sussex; and Curborough, a scheme for 5,000 homes on a disused airfield in Staffordshire.

Read more...

ECOTOWN PLAN 'HIJACKED BY SUPERSTORES'

Daily Mail 21 June 2008

A THIRD of Labour's planned ecotowns are being backed by developers with strong ties to major supermarkets.

At least five out of the 15 proposals for 'green' communities come from companies with a track record of developing land and selling it on to Tesco and Asda.

The towns will be the first to be built in Britain for 40 years. The shortlist, which was announced in April, will be whittled down to ten later this year.

Campaigners said that the Government was paving the way for a new generation of 'Tescotowns' - the nickname given to communities dominated by a single retailer.

Each of the ecotowns will have between 5,000 and 15,000 'low carbon' flats and houses. They will help meet Gordon Brown's target of building three million homes by 2020.

More than 60,000 people have signed petitions against the towns, arguing that their special 'green' status is simply a smokescreen for bypassing local planning laws.

Thousands are due to descend on Weston-on-the-Green in Oxfordshire tomorrow in protest at plans for an ecotown next to a protected wildlife area.

The protest is being led by Tim Henman's father Tony, who lives in the village. A national demonstration will take place in Westminster on June 30.

When the plans were announced, many assumed the ecotowns would have small, independent shops selling local produce. However, earlier this month it emerged that the sole bidder for an ecotown at Hanley Grange near Cambridge was Tesco.

The company jointly owns land on the site with the medical charity the Wellcome Trust and wants to build 11,000 homes around a Tesco store.

Firms which have developed sites for the retailer are involved in several other potential ecotowns, including Marston near Bedford, Curborough near Lichfield in Staffordshire and Middle Quinton in Warwickshire.

In addition, the Pennbury ecotown south of Leicester is planned for land owned by the Co-op.

Friends of the Earth campaigner Paul de Zylva said: 'The last thing we need is for ecotowns to become Tesco towns. The Government is trying to create an image of ecotowns that are vibrant, sustainable communities, served by local shops and services.

'It doesn't really square with the idea of having a big supermarket at the heart of the community.'

Ruth Potts of the New Economic Foundation think-tank said: 'We are looking at the real beginning of the Tesco-isation of Britain.'

Tesco said it was involved only in the Cambridgeshire bid. A spokesman added: 'If you look at the number of developments we have been involved in, the chances are we will have worked with a range of developers. I wouldn't read anything into it.'

Eco-towns not thought through - MP

Birmingham Mail 21 June 2008

PLANNED eco-towns creating thousands of new homes in the West Midlands have been slammed as a "back-of-anenvelope idea".

Conservatives claimed the proposed new settlements were set to be built in the wrong place and would do little to help the environment.

Peter Luff (Con, Mid Worcestershire) called instead for the creation of "eco-suburbs", expanding existing towns and cities, instead of new settlements such as the planned eco-town at Long Marston, between Evesham, in his constituency, and Stratford-upon-Avon, Worcestershire.

Housing Minister Caroline Flint said she would visit the proposed sites over the summer to listen to the views of local people.

She accused the Tories of ignoring the voices of people who were "in desperate need of affordable housing".

The Government is considering 15 eco-town proposals across the UK, which it says will provide new low-cost environmentallyfriendly housing.

As well as the Long Marston scheme, Ministers are considering proposals for a Curborough, on the outskirts of Lichfield.

Both schemes have aroused intense local opposition.

Mr Luff told MPs: "This is a back-of-an-envelope idea that has not been properly thought through."

Ms Flint said: "We need to build more homes, including homes that are suitable for older people."

Eco towns are a 'back of the envelope'idea

Birmingham Post 21 June 2008

Planned eco-towns creating thousands of new homes in the West Midlands have been slammed as a "back-of-the-envelope idea".

Conservatives claimed the proposed new settlements were set to be built in the wrong place and would do little to help the environment, in a House of Commons debate.

Peter Luff (Con Mid Worcestershire) called instead for the creation of "eco-suburbs", expanding existing towns and cities, instead of new settlements such as the planned eco-town at Long Marston, between Evesham, in his constituency, and Stratford-upon-Avon, Worcestershire.

Housing Minister Caroline Flint said she would visit the proposed sites over the summer to listen to the views of local people.

He accused the Tories of ignoring the voices of people who were "in desperate need of affordable housing".

Read more...

Nothing green left in eco-town plans, say Tories

Yorkshire Post 20 June 2008

The Government's flagship eco-town initiative to provide environmentally friendly housing was yesterday branded a "farce" by Tories.

Shadow Housing Minister Grant Shapps claimed the project would only deliver a tiny fraction of the homes needed to meet the national shortage and the dwellings would be built to lower environmental standards than other developments.

He said more properties would be built by working with communities rather than through a "Soviet-style" Whitehall project.

The Government is considering 15 proposals for the new towns, which will aim to tackle both the country's housing shortage and the problem of climate change.

But Mr Shapps said: "The problem is that there's almost nothing green left about these plans whatsoever."

The scheme had "descended into the sort of farce" seen with the introduction of the home information packs, he claimed.

He said the proposed new towns would only provide around 75,000 homes by 2016 and would only be built at the Government's Sustainability Code 3 - when all other properties built in 2016 would be at Code 6.

Mr Shapps told MPs: "The simple fact is more homes can be produced when you work with communities rather than coming up with large, centrally-driven, Whitehall-driven, top-down, Soviet-style planning from the centre."

Eco-town 'would be inaccessible'

Birmingham Mail 20 June 2008

CAMPAIGN: Report warns of expensive estate with large carbon footprint

PROPOSALS for an eco-town in the countryside near Stratford-upon- Avon have been poorly thought out and would result in the development of expensive, inaccessible housing estates requiring huge subsidies from taxpayers, according to a study by Warwickshire County Council.

A report to the council cabinet urged Housing Minister Caroline Flint to remove a 240 hectare former MoD depot site at Long Marston from the list of 15 possible locations across the country earmarked for pioneering green communities.

The study warned that the result of pushing ahead with developing the site, which is seven miles from the nearest A road, would cut across the Government's sustainability agenda, resulting in "a large carbon footprint, requiring long-term support from the taxpayer".

According to Mrs Flint, the chosen sites must be capable of delivering zero carbon towns where at least half of residents do not require cars.

But the council study predicted that a lack of jobs in Long Marston would force many inhabitants to drive to work in Stratford and other Warwickshire towns, putting pressure on inadequate rural roads.

Questions are also raised about who could afford to buy a house in the ecotown.

No support for county eco-town

Coventry Evening Telegraph June 20, 2008

OPPOSITION to a proposed eco-town at Long Marston in Warwickshire crystallised yesterday when the county council's Cabinet officially decided not to support it.

They said the 6,000 ecotown of "Middle Quinton" was too big, in the wrong place, included an incinerator, and would lead to people commuting elsewhere to work, jamming up roads.

They were also horrified at leaked reports that the Government might use "Big Brother" style tactics to force people living in the towns to adopt an ecofriendly lifestyle.

Leaks from Whitehall suggested that officials are discussing the possibility of "fining" people for using their cars too many times, charging for peak-time car journeys, and banishing parking to the ecotown's outskirts.

Council leader Cllr Alan Farnell (Con, Nuneaton Weddington) said: "It's very, very frightening. If you have ever seen Big Brother or 1984, then I think that's it. I think it is very, very worrying."

Tory Cabinet member Cllr Chris Saint (Con, Shipstonon-Stour) said: "Motorists would have to park cars right away from residential areas. They'd probably just get a bike rack (at home) and no more, and they'd be fined for using cars at peak times. The report beggars belief."

The Government wants to see 10 ecotowns built in Britain, and the former army depot at Long Marston is in the shortlist.

Tory Cllr Izzi Seccombe (Kineton) said homes would be packed as densely as "Birmingham's canal quarter", and be the size of Alcester with twice as many people.

Shirty half dozen to fight eco town plans

Birmingham Post 20 June 2008

Six Midland councils are joining forces to fight Government plans for a 6,000-home eco town in the south Warwickshire countryside.

The local authorities will tell Housing Minister Caroline Flint that proposals for the new settlement, at Long Marston near Stratford-upon-Avon, would spoil the countryside and put intolerable pressure on narrow rural roads and public services.

The councils - Warwickshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire county councils and the districts of Stratford, Wychavon and Cotswolds - are warning the planned eco town would be an administrative nightmare since the 240-hectare site sits on the borders of the three counties.

Although all Government literature on the subject refers to the site being in Warwickshire, part of the land is in fact in Worcestershire, while Gloucestershire lies only a short distance away.

A meeting yesterday of Warwickshire County Council's cabinet vowed to fight the proposal, which members described as "horrendous"

The town, dubbed Middle Quinton by would be developers St Modwen, is on a shortlist of 15 possible eco towns being considered by Mrs Flint.

Ten eco towns are to be built across the country and will be "exemplars of sustainability", according to the Government.

Only half of residents are expected to use cars and will have to leave their vehicles in special parking areas on the outskirts of the town, leaving them to walk or cycle to their homes, according to Government briefings.

Middle Quinton would be "anything but eco-friendly", according to Chris Saint, the Warwickshire cabinet member for economic development.

He fears the councils will be left to pick up much of the cost of providing infrastructure and services for the new town.

"If you have population growth of this nature in a quick period of time, you have to put infrastructure in place first. We are talking about schools being built first and run with empty places for a long period of time," he added.

Cabinet members also suspect Government regeneration money for Warwickshire in future would be diverted to Middle Quinton, cutting the amount available for the north of the county where unemployment and social deprivation is higher. Similar fears have been expressed by Coventry City Council.

Letter: Does anyone ever listen to the voice of the people any more?

Birmingham Post 20 June 2008

Dear Editor, Since reading A. Fitzpatrick's letter (of Hall Green) in The Post, dated June 16, under the heading: "Surely there are no believers for Airport's runway claims"; his assumption is probably right.

Unless I have missed the flood of letters. I would not, however, be confident that this absence of public support for a runway means that he can count on the runway, not being built.

When did common sense have anything to do with it?

Public opinion in our country counts for nothing; except at voting time; when unfortunately we have probably forgotten all of the past failures and voted again, as we normally do or as our fathers did.

The authorities and politicians' disdain of the public and its opinion, is dictated in referendums, eco towns, immigration ... the list is endless; I cannot recall anything the public opinion has ever won or overturned. In our democracy in recent times we are too easily manipulated or even uninterested until it is too late.

Labour's eco-towns 'won't be as green as promised'

Daily Mail Online 19 June 2008

The Government's 'Soviet-style' initiative to build homes across the south east will be far less green than promised, the Tories claimed last night.

Housing spokesman Grant Shapps said the 10 new 'eco towns' would be built to lower environmental standards than developments built elsewhere - even though the entire reasoning behind them is to limit damage to the planet.

He said the policy had 'descended to the sort of farce' seen with the introduction of home information packs.

The Government is considering 15 proposals for the new eco towns, which will aim to tackle both the housing shortage and the problem of climate change.

But Mr Shapps said the project would only deliver a tiny fraction of the homes needed to meet the national shortage - just 75,000 by 2016.

He said more homes would be built working with local communities rather than pushing the monolithic scheme through from Whitehall.

During a debate on eco-homes in the Commons yesterday, Mr Shapps said: 'The simple fact is more homes can be produced when you work with communities rather than coming up with large, centrally-driven, Whitehall-driven, top-down, Soviet-style planning from the centre.

'That is what this plan has come down to - all this fuss, bother and kerfuffle for just 75,000 homes, because it sounds like the Government are doing something green. In fact, they are not green at all.'

Government's eco-towns plan branded a 'farce'

24dash.com in Housing , Communities , Environment , Local Government 19 June 2008

The Government's flagship eco-town initiative to provide environmentally friendly housing was today branded a "farce" by Tories.

Shadow housing minister Grant Shapps claimed the project would only deliver a tiny fraction of the homes needed to meet the national shortage, and the dwellings would be built to lower environmental standards than other developments.

He said more properties would be built working with local communities rather than through a "Soviet-style" Whitehall project.

The Government is considering 15 proposals for the new towns, which will aim to tackle both the housing shortage and the problem of climate change.

But Mr Shapps said: "The problem is that there's almost nothing green left about these plans whatsoever."

The scheme had "descended into the sort of farce" seen with the introduction of the Home Information packs, he claimed.

He claimed the proposed new towns would only provide around 75,000 homes by 2016 and would only be built at the Government's Sustainability Code 3 - when all other properties built in 2016 would be at Code 6.

He told MPs: "The simple fact is more homes can be produced when you work with communities rather than coming up with large, centrally-driven, Whitehall-driven, top-down, Soviet-style planning from the centre."

Eco-town ‘will widen north-south divide’ in county

Stratford Herald 19 June 2008

PROMOTERS of the plans for a controversial 6,000-home eco-town at Long Marston are facing the prospect of a second official rebuff of the scheme today (Thursday)—this time by the ruling cabinet of Warwickshire County Council.

Stratford District Council has already voted unanimously against the project and today members of the county council’s cabinet are being advised by one of their most senior officials to comprehensively reject the proposals.

As reported in this week’s Midweek Herald, Paul Galland, the county’s new strategic director for environment and economy, is recommending that the government should be told to drop Long Marston—or Middle Quinton as the promoters are now calling it—when it draws up its final shortlist of around ten eco-locations throughout England. Currently Long Marston is on the government’s “long shortlist” of 15 sites.

Ironically, Mr Galland is the successor at the county council to John Deegan, who is now employed as a consultant to the Bird Group which, with St Modwen, is a promoter of the eco-town project. Mr Deegan recently told the Herald he was firmly committed to the idea of the Middle Quinton eco-town as a genuine and worthwhile scheme.

Mr Galland, however, takes a very different view. Not only does he challenge the overall feasibility of the eco-town, he says that if it goes ahead it will bring about “a fundamental and inappropriate change” in the character of this rural area. He also argues that it will “widen the gap” between the less prosperous and more prosperous parts of Warwickshire.

He says the government should re-think its approach to reconciling housing growth and affordability with climate change objectives and argues that these aims can better be achieved in the sustainable redevelopment and expansion of existing cities, towns and communities through existing and emerging planning policies.

Crucial to Mr Galland’s analysis of the Long Marston proposal is the issue of infrastructure, which he defines as transport, flood alleviation, schools and health and community facilities.

He says that Long Marston is seven miles from the nearest strategic highway and “similarly remote” from the strategic rail networks and services. “In addition, the current infrastructure suffers from poor accessibility to both the strategic transport networks and the local towns of Stratford and Evesham,” he says.

“The location of Long Marston Depot is such therefore that it will not easily become an eco-town as far as transport is concerned and there is significant risk that unsustainable and environmentally damaging patterns of travel will become established by the residents of the new settlement.” He points out that the government is looking for dramatically reduced reliance on cars for people who live in eco-towns.

Mr Galland declares: “It should be borne in mind that the level of public transport provision for an eco-town should be expected to be significantly higher than would be expected to serve a conventional settlement of this size—especially given the government aspiration for half the resident households not to need access to a private car.”

But he says that while reinstatement of the railway line from Long Marston to Stratford might be feasible—“albeit at a high cost and severe disruption”—provision of passenger services (as suggested by the promoters) was likely to also require “substantial financial revenue support”.

And he argues that the envisaged creation of a western bypass of Stratford might, in turn, make development of land at Shottery— where 600-700 new homes have been planned—more, rather than less, likely.

Mr Galland says that to give the best chance of promoting sustainable and environmentally benign travel habits would require “prolonged and high levels” of revenue support from the developers and/or the government.

He says that the 600-acre site at Long Marston is “very probably not big enough” to provide sufficient land for a sustainable balance of employment, education, parks, shopping and other community services as well as 6,000 dwellings.

Mr Galland also questions how the developers can meet feasible affordable housing targets unless the number of dwellings is doubled to around 12,000—the size of Stratford or Warwick—on a site perhaps four times bigger (2,400 acres) than the one currently proposed.

The official eco-town consultation period concludes at the end of this month. The government will then consider all the arguments before drawing up the final shortlist by the end of October. An announcement of the decision is expected in early November. However, ministers will be under intense pressure right up to the final moment when the decision is made.

'NOTHING GREEN LEFT' IN ECO-TOWN PLANS, SAY TORIES

Press Association National Newswire 19 June 2008

The Government's flagship eco-town initiative to provide environmentally friendly housing was today branded a "farce" by Tories.

He said more properties would be built working with local communities rather than through a "Soviet-style" Whitehall project.

The Government is considering 15 proposals for the new towns, which will aim to tackle both the housing shortage and the problem of climate change.

But Mr Shapps said: "The problem is that there's almost nothing green left about these plans whatsoever."

The scheme had "descended into the sort of farce" seen with the introduction of the Home Information packs, he claimed.

Opening the Commons topical debate, Housing Minister Caroline Flint said the "exciting" proposals would create sustainable communities rather than simply green homes.

She said: "Eco-towns offer us a unique opportunity not only to address the housing shortage and to tackle climate change, but also to seek to trigger economic growth across a whole area."

But Labour's David Taylor (NW Leicestershire) said there was "suspicion" that the project was an "underhand way of building new towns in quick time, to the detriment of the local environment and to the profit of property developers".

Ms Flint said: "The eco-town programme allows us to see if there are ways within a whole town development to demonstrate how in this country ... we can become world leaders in what will be, increasingly, the way in which we will build houses in the future."

Opinion: After the fanfare for eco-towns comes the sad, laughable truth

The Times 19 June 2008

If the Government were truly committed, it would allow some eco-towns to be independent of mains power and water, argues Nick Rosen

Labour's plans for its new eco-towns look increasingly threadbare. The idea of these "exemplar" eco-communities, as outlined in The Times this week, are now a laughable caricature of any future eco-living arrangements. I am therefore resigning from the committee that is supposedly advising on their energy footprint.

I am an expert in off-grid living - in places without mains power or water, where homes and workplaces use renewable energy, harvesting water from rain or river or spring, and deal with their own waste. So when Gordon Brown's first public pronouncement after he became Labour leader was the building of five eco-towns (later raised to ten) with populations of between 5,000 and 20,000 people each, it was welcome news. The homes would add to existing housing targets and would be affordable, the areas healthy and energy-efficient, and the social arrangements would maximise local living, working, food production and education. The whole project would be emblematic of the Brown Government. I went to a seminar with Yvonne Cooper, then the Housing Minister, in which she invoked Aneurin Bevan's 1945 housebuilding crusade.

It was easy to be suspicious: could we be sure that these eco-towns would really reduce their residents' carbon footprints to the bare minimum? But there did seem to be a way to try to make that happen.

I was asked by the Department for Communities to serve on the energy working paper committee, and at the first meeting we were led to understand that we had a free hand to make suggestions to the developers on the technologies for energy provision in the eco-towns

No matter that one of theproposals is for a Tesco town: it has emerged that the supermarket chain is the sole financier of one of the most likely schemes to be approved - at Hanley Grange, near Cambridge. If Tesco would source all the food locally, it would be as welcome as any of the big housebuilders also trying to win project approval. No matter that the schemes will have a huge carbon footprint - the new houses are badly needed after a decade of low housebuilding. If the new towns added to the total housing targets, were "affordable" and a genuine opportunity for innovation and best-practice eco design, surely they would be a good idea.

Nothing could be farther from the truth. The Government announced last month that the homes would become part of current targets, rather than an addition. The ten eco-towns are now a "maximum of ten". Under pressure from the housebuilders' lobby, the planned zero-carbon standards are being relaxed. It seems that the Government is no longer attempting to introduce best practice.

But the biggest failing is that in areas where there is no existing energy or water infrastructure, the Government and developers insist on bringing in mains power from the national grid, and that water and sewage disposal should also be provided in the normal way.

This is a huge wasted opportunity. Apart from the expense in laying them, which play havoc with any plans to provide affordable housing, the new power and water lines will be supplemented by renewable energy and rainwater harvesting equipment that the eco-towns will doubtless want to introduce.

When the nation has just learnt that there will be 40 per cent too few power stations by 2010, what is the point of connecting these new showcase towns to the energy grid? And when floods and water shortages are forecast, would it not be wise to ensure that at least some of these towns were independent of mains power and water?

I was prepared for others to disagree. But it was impossible to stand by and see the subject ignored. "The Government has already decided that it is not interested in off-grid eco-towns," I was told.

Should the Government not listen to its advisers first? Or is it only interested in what the developers think? These are developers that in many cases have simply reheated old plans and resubmitted them in the guise of eco towns; developers that quite understandably prioritise making a profit over being a genuine successful case study for the eco-town of the future.

"People will not come and live in eco-towns if they are not connected to mains power and water," I was told. But has anybody actually asked this question? Not as far as I'm aware. The people who live in eco-villages such as Hill Holt in Lincolnshire (this is the type of place from which truly successful eco towns will grow) prove that there is a demand for it. And do we really think we can create a successful eco-town if it is filled with people who want mains power and water?

One argument against off-grid power and water supplies is that it might contravene EU competition rules, because nobody would be able to compete with the local monopoly supplier (ie, the developers). It is tempting to disprove that myself - by launching a utility company that offers to install power and water supplies free in return for a long-term fixed-price contract, immune to the predicted spike in energy costs of the next few years.

It would be a sensible precaution to raise the bar so that it is actually genuine eco-people who wish to live in the planned towns, not people who are simply going to chuck coal on their wood-burning stove, walk to the city limits, hop into their 4x4s and head down to the supermarket for their weekly shop.

County planners urge eco town 'no'

Stratford Observer 19 June 2008

DAMNING criticism of Middle Quinton has been fired from Warwickshire County Council.
The authority's ruling Cabinet will meet today (Thursday) to decide on an official response to the government''s eco town consultation.

And amid damning criticism the plan for a 6,000 home zero carbon community on the former MoD base in Long Marston is majorly flawed, the council's Strategic Director for Environment and Economy recommends Middle Quinton should not be taken forward.

In his report, Paul Galland takes up issue with every one of so-called benefits of Middle Quinton.
They point to the “substantial employment opportunities” it could bring; the idea it could offer “2,000 affordable housing units”; claims it faces “no major issues regarding the strategic road network"; and a "strategic flood risk assessment" pointing to there being "no flood risk on site”.

Mr Galland states: "This information is somewhat misleading as to the advantages of the location. The site may be a significant employment centre in comparison with the small employment needs arising in the local villages, however, it cannot be regarded as significant in relation to the employment needs/expectations of a town of 6,000 dwellings.

"Affordable housing is a district-wide problem in a district with a widely dispersed population. Concentration of affordable housing provision in one location would only address the shortage in the central part of the district whilst undermining the supply of workers in service and tourist industries elsewhere.

He continues: "The glaring issue missed is that there is no part of the strategic road network within seven or eight miles. Long Marston Depot and the main road access is just the B4632. This is a serious and potentially fatal short-coming in the Highway Agency contribution to assessment of this location.

"The strategic flood risk assessment shows that the Long Marston Depot site and its immediate surroundings are significantly affected by high risk flooding areas."

His report goes on to condemn Middle Quinton even further, saying it would bring about "fundamental and inappropriate" change to the character of the area.

He also fires shots at the developers behind the plan, St Modwen and The Bird Group, challenging their financial ability to fund the necessary infrastructure for project of its scale. And he says is it "very probable" the 600-acre site earmarked is not big enough to provide a sustainable balance of employment, education, parks, shopping and other community services as well as 6,000 homes.
Mr Galland also points out rather than safeguarding other areas, notably Shottery, the building of an eco town at Long Marston is actually more likely to put them at risk, pointing out a bypass would need to be built. He adds Middle Quinton would totally undermine agreed strategic policy and widen the gap between the less prosperous and more prosperous parts of Warwickshire.

Stratford District Council has already voted unanimously against the scheme. Consultation ends on June 30 with the government expected to announce plans to push forward with ten or 11 of the 15 shortlisted eco town sites later this year.

PUBLIC exhibitions aimed at finding support for Middle Quinton will be staged by the developers over the next few days.

They will run tomorrow (Friday) at Stratford Leisure Centre between 10am and 5pm, on Saturday at the Long Marston site between the same times, at Evesham public hall from 10am to 4pm on Sunday, and in Chipping Campden between 10am and 5pm on Monday.

The Journal's opinion is...

Evesham Journal & Cotswold Journal 19 June 2008

I remember when all this was fields! This is something we may be saying about a big chunk of the Vale and North Cotswolds, which is currently under a dark shadow from the development of the so-called eco-town at Long Marston.

No-one denies that housing is needed and Wychavon District Council, along with other authorities, is busy trying to fulfil those needs with its current South Worcestershire Joint Core Strategy. Yet eco-town opposition is being labelled nimbyism and scaremongering.

But where is the proper consultation and will our views count for anything?

The Government is in danger of bulldozing through this Middle Quinton proposal while lining-up the bulldozers. Eco-town our carbon-foot!

Speedy response to eco-town proposal

Evesham Journal & Cotswold Journal 19 June 2008

WHEN the Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG) announced plans to build a series of eco-towns across the country, developers were quick to respond.

Within a few months they had received a wide variety of suggestions, 57 in all, which were later reduced to a shortlist of 15.

That process saw the disappearance of a scheme mooted for the old Throckmorton airfield, to the relief of local residents.

Group set up to campaign against plans is now 11,000 strong

Evesham Journal 19 June 2008

THE BARD Campaign was set up at the beginning of the year when the first rumblings of a planned eco town became known.

BARD stands for Better Accessible and Responsible Development and the group first got together at a meeting in mid-January. David Bliss, the group's chairman was responsible for getting the ball rolling and it was soon decided to launch a campaign in opposition to Middle Quinton.

Communications co-ordinator for the BARD, Hilary Bliss said: "We wanted to hear what people thought and it was decided that we should put a campaign together. The meeting was organised as we were aware of the plans bit we were not sure how many others were.

Chance for a closer look at eco-town scheme

Evesham Journal 19 June 2008

EVESHAM residents will be able to take a closer look at the proposals for Middle Quinton at an exhibition on Sunday (22).

Green Issues Communications have organised the public exhibition to be held at the public hall between 10am and 4pm. The Evesham event follows similar exhibitions in Stratford and Long Marston and a further meeting will take place in Chipping Campden on Monday (23).

Richard Halderthay of Green Issues said: "This is the first opportunity for many local people to have access to all the facts surrounding the eco town. I am confident that those attending the exhibition will welcome the opportunity the view plans for the environmentally sustainable development."

Meanwhile, eco town developers St Modwen and the Bird Group have been quizzing local rail enthusiasts on the possible restoration of the missing link' stretch of railway from Stratford to Honeybourne, through Long Marston.

Leaders re-affirm opposition to eco-town

Evesham Journal 19 June 2008

LOCAL government leaders have re-affirmed their opposition to the eco town this week.

The main concerns centre on the lack of a sustainable infrastructure and the undemocratic' planning system being used to push proposals through.

Jack Hegarty, Managing Director of Wychavon Distirict Council said: "Creating new settlements in isolated rural areas could lead to development in unsustainable locations. Moreover, if the objective is to meet housing need, it is best to do it where the need arises.

"Proposals must follow normal planning procedures and not represent a backdoor way of imposing additional housing numbers."

Evesham Mayor Alan Booth said: "The eco town is a no-go is as there is no infrastructure and the plans just don't hold up. It is also an undemocratic system of planning as it goes through on the nod of a Government officer.

"It seems that no real thought has gone into it and it will create more of a carbon footprint than it is supposed to remove."

Cotswold Journal 19 June 2008

THE eco-town' plan has been slammed as "Stalinist" by the Cotswolds' civic leader.

Cotswold District Council (CDC) leader, Cllr Lynden Stowe, spoke before today's (Thursday) CDC cabinet meeting that was to consider a recommendation that CDC join neighbouring councils in opposing the scheme.

The Bird Group will display the plans in an exhibition at Chipping Campden Town Hall from 10am until 5pm on Monday, June 23 before giving a presentation at a public meeting in the hall at 7.30pm that evening.

A report to the cabinet meeting recommended opposing the scheme on the grounds that planning procedures are not being followed, the possibility of constructing such developments in built-up areas has not been explored, and the impact on neighbouring communities has not been considered.

Objectors claim the proposal would add 15,000 vehicles daily to existing traffic on the B4632 road and the winding lanes to nearby Mickleton.

Branded with failure

Construction News Online 17 June 2008

There's a growing swell of opposition to the government's Eco-Towns plans, says Ross Sturley

Local communities are objecting, largely on a NIMBY basis. Various eco-warriors (and people like architect Richard Rogers) are saying that they're just a bad idea, and that in any case they can't really be eco-towns if they're built in on Greenfield or out-of-town locations.

To be honest, you'd think they have a point there, rural public transport isn't known for its frequency around the locations planned, and unless people are intended – Prisoner style – to never leave the towns, that could be a challenge to a zero carbon footprint.

Rogers et al argue that these new communities must be inserted into existing urban settings – one anti-eco-town protestor in the Midlands suggested Hyde Park as a suitable location. But apart from Leeds, on the current shortlist, where are the potentially reasonable urban sites? There's not many cities with areas where you could insert 15,000 plus homes.

Most damaging of all, developers hard-pressed by the credit squeeze are beginning to say that they're not really interested in being environmentally friendly anymore. Funnily enough, when the lenders want to reduce loan-to-value ratios there's an even stronger focus than usual on cutting out anything that isn't critical to the development. Any cost not fundamental to building the thing will not be borne by a commercial developer.

That there has also been some doubt sown on the overall pace of climate change hasn't helped, but largely we've gone past that debate now. It's just simply a question of cost. And while payback on wind generation (in energy savings) is still 37 years, it's unlikely that such technology will find its way into commercial developments.

Eco-towns threat to Coventry

Coventry Telegraph Jun 14 2008

A NEW eco-town in Warwickshire could make it harder to provide enough new homes in Coventry, a city councillor fears.

City council cabinet member for city development Gary Ridley fears developers would go to the rural sites rather than build in the city. Coventry has to find space for another 33,000 homes in the next 20 years, with 24,000 of them destined to go on brownfield sites.

Councillor Ridley (Con, Sherbourne) said: "It has to be a concern for us the way the housing market is at the present time. We are very worried that both the eco-towns will start dragging some of that investment out of Coventry and into ecotowns."

The government has plans to build 10 ecotowns, with zero-carbon housing for 5,000 people each, in the countryside.

There has already been huge public opposition to a proposed centre at a former Ministry of Defence depot between Long Marston and Lower Quinton. Another is to the north, on the former Fradley airfield near Lichfield. Cllr Ridley said: "Looking at this development in Long Marston, it just looks like a crafty way by the government to get rid of some surplus land."

Car charge plans for eco-towns

The Daily Telegraph 18 June 2008

Ministers are considering plans to charge residents of the proposed eco-towns a fee for a parking space on the edge of the town, a fee for driving out at peak times or penalties for taking a car out of town above a certain number of journeys.

A spokesman for the Communities and Local Government department said: "Eco-towns must have excellent transport links to surrounding areas.''

WHY ECO-TOWNS WILL DESTROY THE VERY ENVIRONMENT THEY'RE SUPPOSED TO BE SAVING

Daily Mail 18 June 2008

FOR SUCH a crowded island, Great Britain is still astonishingly beautiful. Draw a line between Exmouth in Devon and the Wash, and the land to the south and east ranks among the most densely populated in the world.

Yet, from the air, even this chunk of lowland England is still mostly green, a patchwork of hedgerows largely unchanged for centuries.

But plans are afoot which will wreak more damage to this beauty than even the demented post-war planners and architects who worked hard to finish the job started by the Luftwaffe.

These are the plans being mooted by the Government to build a dozen new communities -- an archipelago of so-called 'eco-towns' into which Britain's burgeoning population will be shoehorned.

Yesterday more details were revealed about these 20,000 to 100,000-strong 'communities of tomorrow'. And, of course, being eco-towns, the new communities will be obliged to follow the green orthodoxy.

As with the ascetic monasteries of Mount Athos in Greece, only certain lifestyles will be permitted.

Although those monks are denied the pleasures of meat and the flesh, no one is suggesting you will have to be a vegetarian celibate to live in 'Leeds City Region' or 'Bordon-Whitehill' in Hampshire, two of the proposed communities, but it will probably help.

Expensive eco town schemes poorly thought out - claim

Birmingham Post 18 June 2008

Proposals for an eco town in the countryside near Stratford-upon-Avon have been poorly thought out and would result in the development of expensive, inaccessible housing estates requiring huge subsidies from taxpayers, according to a study by Warwickshire County Council.

A report to the council cabinet tomorrow ( urges Housing Minister Caroline Flint to remove a 240-hectare former MoD depot site at Long Marston from the list of 15 possible locations across the country earmarked for pioneering green communities.

The study warns that the result of pushing ahead with developing the site, which is seven miles from the nearest A-road, would cut across the Government's sustainability agenda, resulting in "a large carbon footprint, requiring long-term support from the taxpayer."

According to Mrs Flint, the chosen sites must be capable of delivering zero-carbon towns where at least half of residents do not require cars.

But the council study predicts that a lack of jobs in Long Marston would force many inhabitants to drive to work in Stratford and other Warwickshire towns, putting pressure on inadequate rural roads.

Birmingham Post 18 June 2008

Councils finding themselves under pressure to grant planning permission for eco towns are right to be suspicious of an initiative which is so closely linked to the Government push for record levels of house building. While West Midlands local authorities are already being told, against their wishes, to plan for some 420,000 new homes by 2027, they are now also faced with the possibility of two entirely new towns, supposedly exemplars of sustainability, in locations that have previously been ruled out for large-scale development.

Both proposals - at Curborough on the outskirts of Lichfield, and Long Marston near Stratford-upon-Avon - would be highly unlikely to be given any more than cursory consideration by the respective planning authorities if it were not for the fact that the projects have Government support.

The reasons for a reluctance to embrace eco towns are not difficult to see, with the Curborough proposal representing little more than a thinly-disguised attempt to expand the city of Lichfield, while the Long Marston application exposes the site's remoteness, absence of nearby employment and lack of any decent road links.

Research by Warwickshire County Council suggests that the Long Marston scheme has been ill thought out and would not nearly be as sustainable as the Government would like to think. According to the Housing Minister, the new eco towns must be carbon-neutral with at least half of residents not requiring cars, but it is difficult to see at this stage where the public transport or jobs would come from for Long Marston's 12,000 or so inhabitants, who it is feared would resort to travelling by car to find work in Stratford or other south Warwickshire towns.

Read more...

Eco-town residents may be fined for using cars

Telegraph Online 17 June 2008

Residents of Gordon Brown's eco-towns are set to face fines for driving their cars out of the controversial green settlements, it emerged today.

Motorists living in England's new eco-towns may also be expected to park their cars at the outskirts and walk or cycle to their homes.

Tony Henman is campaigning against plans for an eco-town at Weston-Otmoor, Oxfordshire
The proposals are under discussion with ministers, whose eco-town plans have been criticised by environmental experts who believe that the remote locations chosen for some eco-towns will increase car use.

The charging plans have been put forward by developers as a way of meeting the Government's targets to reduce carbon emissions by cutting car use by half.

They could include a fee for a parking space on the edge of the town, a fee for driving out at peak traffic times or penalties for taking a car out of town above a certain number of journeys.

Today Tony Henman, the father of the former tennis player Tim Henman and a prominent campaigner against eco-towns, said: "It sounds ridiculous to do that. The law isn't going to allow that, it is like a congestion charge in reverse."

Mr Henman is fighting plans for an eco-town at Weston-Otmoor, Oxfordshire, near his home in Weston-on-the-Green. Weston-Otmoor is understood to be one eco-town where the plans have been suggested.

Eco-towns to fine residents for driving out of city limits; Factbox

The Times 17 June 2008

Motorists living in Gordon Brown's futuristic green communities face fines for driving their cars out of town, under radical proposals being drawn up by ministers, The Times has learnt.

Residents of the largely pedestrianised eco-towns may also be expected to park their cars at the outskirts and walk or cycle to their homes, up to ten minutes away.

These are among possible ways being discussed with ministers to meet a government target to cut car use in eco-towns by half. Detailed planning proposals will be published next month, a senior Whitehall official said.

The proposals could include a fee for a permanent car space at the edge of town, charges for driving out at peak congestion times, or penalties for taking a car out of town above a set number of agreed journeys.

The official emphasised that the rules would be adapted for more rural areas, where there was less public transport. "But outside Cambridge or near Stansted airport, for example, where there are strong transport links, you could be charged for driving out (of the eco-town)," the official said.

Eco town could take our cash

Heartland Evening News 16 June 2008

AN ECO Town in Warwickshire would further starve Nuneaton and Bedworth of much-needed investment.

That is the concerns of the leader of Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council, councillor Marcus Jones, who has raised major concerns against the controversial plans to build an Eco Town in Stratford-upon-Avon.

Cllr Jones believes that should the Eco Town be given the go ahead in the south Warwickshire town, it will drag away investment that could have been ploughed into the borough.

His concerns have been shared by members of the borough council's cabinet who have decided to send a letter of objection to the government consultation about the proposals.

It was councillor David Bryden, cabinent member for planning and development, who drew attention to the situation at a recent meeting.

"There is a lot of media interest in this," Cllr Bryden said.