Report critical of eco-town plans

Michael Donnelly, PlanningResource, 23 June 2008

According to weekend media reports, the government’s ‘challenge group’, says that out of the 15 shortlisted sites, less than ten should be given the go-ahead and of those only a handful would have proper green credentials.

It says that most proposals should be sent back to developers for reconsideration.

But today housing minister Caroline Flint said the proposals are still in development: "I have been clear from the start that only those bids that reach the highest possible standards for sustainability can make it through.

"The Eco-town Challenge panel have played an important role in both providing advice and encouragement to developers on what they have done well, but also challenging them to up their game where there is room for improvement. I'd like to thank the Panel for all their hard work.

"This process was meant to be a challenging ride for the developers, and they need to be open to the creativity of these ideas. Some clearly need to up their game and the ball is now in their court."

John Walker, chairman of the Eco-towns Challenge Panel, said: "Our brief was to challenge each proposal in a robust and constructive way, and I think we have done a good job on that front. We have seen much to admire, but in all cases we are challenging the developers to take major steps forward.

"We want the final eco-towns to be better than the best of the current examples that do exist in the UK and the rest of Europe - clearly there is still a lot of work to do."

Developers now have the opportunity to consider how they plan to respond to these challenges before meeting with the Panel again next month to discuss their work in progress.

The challenge group includes experts on design, the environment, planning, house building and transport.