Battlelines drawn in conflict over eco-town proposals

Monday, June 30th, 2008

The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) says new towns are the ‘least sustainable way’ of developing housing and other plans should be examined.

Concerns being raised include the risk that the schemes degenerate into car-dependent housing estates along with most being predominantly planned for greenfield sites, with two in the Green Belt. The majority of the proposed eco-town locations go against local plans agreed with communities, and the sites have been chosen by developers rather than fitting in with planning in the wider public interest.

Most damningly, there is a complete lack of evidence to suggest the schemes offer truly sustainable models of living and working, and three bids are in the east of England where, according to CPRE, water supply and sewerage have already reached maximum capacity.

The first three-month public consultation ends today, though what the government tends to call public consultation usually involves a lot of hot air and manipulation that would impress Robert Mugabe. Housing Minister Caroline Flint is expected to announce the second stage, which will involve a series of quite frankly propagandist roadshows around the shortlisted sites. Expect lots of glitter, pictures of houses surrounded by lovely trees, and piped elevator music, with this or that celebrity brought on board to produce enthusiastic voice-overs for slideshow presentations.

“The process is open, transparent and inclusive,” Flint has said, making it obvious to many that those working for government can easily mistake thick lead-lined walls for cling film. “Within the lively debate about eco-towns and housing growth more generally, I do want to ensure that all voices can be heard.”

Just not within range of her own ears, presumably. And preferably only after decisions have been made in private.

Campaigners from many of the 15 sites in England earmarked for new so-called eco-towns are to voice their opposition by staging a protest outside Parliament today (presumably having first of all filled out the appropriate forms and secured permission, otherwise they’re likely to be bundled into the back of police vans and jailed for 24 hours or more as suspected terrorists). Local authorities and pressure groups will then hand in their response to the first round of public consultation. Environmental campaigners are at the same time calling on ministers to go back to the drawing board.

Will the government listen? What do you think? It is determined to build 10 of the 15 proposed eco-towns by 2020, with the locations finalised later this year. Ministers want five built by 2016, with the other half completed by 2020. After all the money’s been spent on these eco-towns, fuel will be cheaper, as will food, global warming and CO2 emissions will be things of the past, planetary resources will be replenished, mass extinctions will never happen again, and everyone in the country will be happy and equal under the law.

Or so they’d like us to believe.

What I’m basically saying is that eco-towns are decorative band aids designed to show our glorious leaders are doing something green at a time of unprecedented and growing crises. Whether they do anything good in the short- and long-run is the question, and there’s no evidence to suggest that they will. For starters, they might force change upon the inhabitants of the eco-towns—but what about the rest of the country? What happens to us, our buildings and our communities?

categories: healthy planet, in the news