Eco-towns? British villagers say no, thanks

Business Times 3 Apr 08;

New housing in rural areas would do more harm than good

(STOUGHTON, England) The British may be among Europeans most concerned by climate change, but few people in this tiny village in the English Midlands want to be part of their government's latest proposal for a low-carbon future: an initiative called eco-towns.

Stoughton is one of about 60 areas under consideration for new eco-town developments, so-called because they are supposed to be made carbon neutral through clean technology and projects to reduce carbon dioxide. A shortlist of about 15 areas will be announced shortly, and Stoughton - like a number of other communities across Britain - is fighting hard to avoid selection.

Villagers in Stoughton and their politicians say that their area is predominantly rural and that these developments, containing up to 20,000 new homes, would do more harm than good to the environment and to the community.

They also say eco-towns are being used by developers as a smokescreen to win approval for unpopular projects to ease a chronic housing shortage in Britain.

The eco-town concept was mooted by Prime Minister Gordon Brown last year and it partly reflected his strategy to outflank the opposition Conservative leader, David Cameron, on green issues.

Government officials insist that eco-towns are an innovative way to cut greenhouse gases at a time when residential housing represents about a quarter of British carbon emissions. They also say that constructing entirely new infrastructure to create low-carbon housing is much more cost effective than adapting older housing. In part, the hostility toward eco-towns reflects the desire of locals to avoid new developments that would threaten their rural beauty spots. But it also highlights how difficult it could be for governments - even in green-minded countries like Britain - to find ways of developing housing that genuinely transforms the way citizens live and work.

Developers have 'stuck on the word 'eco' and they are hoping that will have a whole new appeal,' said Edward Garnier, a Conservative Member of Parliament who represents an area that includes Stoughton. 'I'm yet to be convinced that many of these eco-towns are anything more than reheated planning proposals that were turned down in the past,' he said.

Phil Edwards, a spokesman for the Cooperative Group, which owns the land and is seeking to develop the eco-town jointly with English Partnerships, a government agency, said plans for Stoughton were genuinely new. But he said it was too early to say what technologies would be used. Mr Edwards said those plans would be discussed with the community if an eco-town in Stoughton were given the go-ahead.

According to the British Housing Minister, Caroline Flint, the eco-towns would be entirely new kinds of settlements because of ways they would manage water, encourage community living, and prioritise pedestrians, cyclists and public transport.

Families would live within a 10-minute walk from newly developed schools and health centres, while fewer than half of all households would rely on cars for their transport needs. Each town would also have to set aside about half an hectare, or an acre, of green space for every hundred homes. Environmental experts say one sign that the government is serious about eco-towns is the promise of thousands of pounds of tax breaks for purchasers of zero carbon homes. - IHT