Tories abandon 'sham' eco-towns

Michael Donnelly, PlanningResource, 30 June 2008

The party says that a series of u-turns by the government have watered down the schemes’ green credentials.

It says that in order to force the schemes through, ministers are ignoring the views of local communities, imposing unsustainable development, weakening environmental standards for the construction of the towns and backtracking on the number of the developments.

Shadow housing minister, Grant Shapps, said: "So-called eco-towns have become an eco-con mired in controversy and utterly discredited. Gordon Brown's brainchild has descended into a farce.

"We cannot support a scheme that’s been exposed as a green sham and won't come even remotely near to building large numbers of genuinely eco-friendly homes. The public have been duped.
                  
"I think it is fair to say that eco-towns will now never see the light of day. They will become the government’s great white elephant. Gordon Brown and Caroline Flint should do everyone a favour and perform one of their characteristic u-turns and ditch them."