Eco Towns Are Coming Your Way
To talk of ‘eco-towns’, even a decade ago, would probably have branded you as a loony hippy idealist. How times have changed, with Gordon Brown pledging to double the number of eco towns, from the five already planned, in his first Labour Party Conference speech as Prime Minister.
The government’s drive for eco towns is largely formed by the pressure to deliver housing for increasing numbers of households.
In 2003, the Government published the ‘Sustainable Communities Plan’ proposing major growth areas in the South East, along with housing market renewal areas in the Midlands and the North where there was declining demand for housing. Ever since then addressing the mismatch in housing supply (too low) and housing demand (too high) has been a constant Government refrain.
The latest piece of the policy jigsaw is the Housing Green Paper, published in July this year. Its overarching message is, at its simplest, we need to provide more housing generally and more affordable housing in particular. So far, so good, but where will all these new houses go and what kind of places will be created?
The concept of eco towns are part of the solution to both housing the population and helping us towards living within our environmental limits. In its ‘Eco-Towns Prospectus’ the Government defines them as being “small new towns of at least 5-20,000 homes. They are intended to exploit the potential to create a complete new settlement to achieve zero carbon development and more sustainable living using the best new design and architecture”.
With an average household size of 2.3-2.4 in the UK, this makes the proposed population between 12,000-48,000 people. These settlements are sizeable with the upper range being larger than a town like Newton Abbot, any town in Cornwall and akin to a settlement slightly larger than Yeovil. Anyone living in East Devon or the South Hams is aware of the proposed new settlements of Cranbrook, near Exeter with 2,900 homes and Sherford, near Plymouth with 5,500 homes. These pale into insignificance against the potential size of the proposed eco-towns.
The Government aim is for an Eco Town in each region. Ergo, there will be an Eco Town in the South West in the near future.
Should we be worried or applaud this initiative to meet housing need in as green a way as possible?
Well, if you are a landowner with land in a suitable location, near public transport links, not on a floodplain etc, it could be your lucky day. I would advise you to read the Eco Towns Prospectus published by the Government recently and consider if your land, in association with others perhaps, could form the basis for a ‘well considered and viable scheme’ and contact someone like me before the October deadline for submissions.
If you’re not a landowner, it’s up to you to decide on a Government drive for housing development not seen since the ‘Homes fit for heroes’ campaign after the First World War.
Published 01/10/2007. The author of this article is Julie Higginbottom
