Eco-town campaigners to hold demo
June 30, 2008
The groups, which include local authorities and pressure groups, will then hand in their response to the first round of public consultation.
It comes as environmental campaigners call on ministers to "go back to the drawing board" on the plans.
Meanwhile, the government is set to launch the next round of consultation.
The government hopes to build 10 of the 15 proposed eco-towns by 2020 and they are meant to set new green standards in house building.
'Truly exemplary'
The 15 shortlisted schemes include sites in South Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and Oxfordshire.
The 10 sites for the eco-towns will be finalised later this year.
Ministers wants five of them built by 2016, with the other half completed by 2020.
The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) said new towns were "the least sustainable way" of developing housing and other plans should be examined.
CPRE head of planning Marina Pacheco said ministers should focus on one or two "truly exemplary" schemes, which were sited in the right place to be sustainable and could be developed to the best green standards.
The concerns the conservation charity have about the proposed developments include:
- The schemes risk being car-dependent housing estates
- Most are predominantly in greenfield sites, and two are in the Green Belt
- Most go against local plans agreed with communities
- The sites have been chosen by developers, rather than fitting in with planning in the wider public interest
- Lack of evidence to suggest schemes will offer truly sustainable models of living and working
- Three bids are in the east of England where, according to CPRE, water supply and sewerage have already reached maximum capacity
Ms Pacheco said that initially CPRE had supported the eco-towns initiative of building to high-environmental standards while providing the affordable homes the UK needs.
But she said the plans were now in urgent need of a redesign.
She said: "We are urging the government to go back to the drawing board. Many of these shortlisted schemes are recycled, failed proposals.
"But by refusing to look at alternatives, such as eco-quarters and redevelopment sites already coming through the planning pipeline, it is missing a golden opportunity."
'Perpetuating myths'
A spokesman for the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) said: "This is the CPRE reverting to type, opposing the housing that young families and first-time buyers need.
"It is a shame that CPRE are preferring to perpetuate myths rather than engaging in the debate about how we build the houses we need."
The CPRE voiced its concerns as campaigners against nine of the proposals head to London to protest against the plans.
Groups from Staffordshire, Essex, Norfolk, West Sussex, Cambridgeshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Bedfordshire, Leicestershire and Oxfordshire will demonstrate outside Parliament before marching on DCLG to hand in their responses to the consultation.
They will also have a discussion with shadow housing minister Grant Shapps and submit a petition to 10 Downing Street.
Author Jilly Cooper has thrown her backing behind the Bard campaign, which is opposing the development of an eco-town near Stratford-upon-Avon.
She urged Prime Minister Gordon Brown to listen to campaigners' concerns.
"Admit eco-towns in urban areas might be good in principle, but go back to the drawing board and hear what local people say about local demand," she said.
"Do you really want the right idea to be floored by wrong location? Sink estates or dormitory towns aren't much of a legacy."
The first public consultation period of three months ends on Monday and Housing Minister Caroline Flint is expected to announce the second stage, which will involve a series of roadshows around the shortlisted sites.
Ms Flint said: "The process is open, transparent and inclusive and we are testing every detail of the proposals with local authorities, stakeholders and local communities themselves.
"Within the lively debate about eco-towns and housing growth more generally, I do want to ensure that all voices can be heard."
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