Developers quit eco-town project

Michael Donnelly, PlanningResource, 8 July 2008

The consortium had planned to build 5,000 homes in an eco-town called Curborough, near Lichfield, Staffordshire.

The withdrawal comes within a fortnight of East Lindsey District Council voting to withdraw its plans for an eco-town after protests from residents.

A spokesperson on behalf of the Curborough Consortium, said: "We were delighted to have been shortlisted and have fully engaged in the eco-town process. It is with regret that we feel we must withdraw our bid, however, we remain committed to the principles behind the eco-town agenda.

"We are pleased that the government has recognised the merits of the location of our scheme and has commended it as being a good development by normal standards.

"Going forward, we will continue to pursue our planning application for a new settlement at Curborough and will look to ways by which our application can benefit from our discussions with the eco-town challenge panel."

The DCLG said it was not surprised by the pull-outs because the point of coming up with a longlist was to shorten it.

The Lichfield development was criticised last month by the government’s own independent panel; the panel asserted that it was not a true eco-town, and the development risked adding to congestion – undermining the sustainability and environmental credentials of the project.
 
Shadow minister for housing, Grant Shapps, said: "Gordon Brown’s approach to housing is now so discredited that developers are opting to pull themselves out of the government-backed scheme and go it alone with their planning applications.

"We believe that more housing is urgently needed and that it’s essential that all homes are environmentally friendly in the future. The only way to achieve this is by working with, rather than against, local communities. Labour ministers need to understand that they can’t simply sit in Whitehall and mandate top-down Whitehall targets to get the job done."

The Conservatives also claim there is also speculation that developer Gallagher is to pull out of the Bedfordshire eco-town bid.