Eco-towns plan 'may be unlawful'
July 23, 2008
The government's approach to delivering up to 10 eco-towns could be "unlawful", councils have warned.
Ministers are to publish a planning policy statement to set out standards and potential locations in England.
But the Local Government Association said the proposals went against the principle of development through plans drawn up by local authorities.
This might show a wish to avoid "proper scrutiny", it added. But the government said it "absolutely" disagreed.
'Deeply flawed'
The eco-towns scheme aims to deliver settlements of 5,000 to 20,000 homes which are zero-carbon overall.
The government shortlisted 15 proposals for new settlements in April and has said up to 10 final approved bids will have to go through the planning process once they have been chosen later this year.
Lawyers John Steel QC and James Strachan, representing the LGA, said an existing planning policy statement covered the concept of providing housing in new settlements in an environmentally sustainable way.
There did not seem to be any justification for promoting eco-towns outside the existing rules, "other than the government's wish to avoid the system due to the proper need for scrutiny, which takes time", they added.
The LGA said the legal advice showed the government's approach to eco-towns was "deeply flawed".
Chairman Sir Simon Milton said the LGA was not opposed to the eco-towns as a way of meeting housing needs and combating climate change.
But he urged: "Ministers must talk to council leaders about adopting a new approach that will deliver development in places where councils and local people agree that eco-towns can work.
"Eco-towns must be delivered without bypassing the planning processes and ensure that new developments have good transport connections alongside the schools, health and leisure facilities which are needed to create places where people would want to live."
Bidders for eco-towns at Manby, in Lincolnshire, and Curborough, Staffordshire, have pulled out, while part of a third bid at New Marston, in Bedfordshire, has also been withdrawn.
'Stretching standards'
A Department for Communities and Local Government spokesman said: "We absolutely disagree with the LGA's claims and believe this legal advice can only have been obtained on the basis of a misrepresentation of our policy.
"We have made it absolutely clear throughout that eco-towns will be different and will have higher environmental standards than a normal development and the applications will also have to be considered through the normal planning process."
Shadow housing minister Grant Shapps said the legal advice would add weight to the argument that ministers had "effectively destroyed their own eco-town project".
Liberal Democrat communities spokeswoman Julia Goldsworthy said: "What this government fails to understand is that centrally imposed solutions are doomed to failure."
Print this page