6 Eco-towns
68. In March 2007 the Government announced plans
for five new "eco-towns" of between 5,000 and 10,000
homes; in September 2007, this was increased to 10 eco-towns of
up to 20,000 homes.[107]
The Government expects that five will be built by 2016 and up
to 10 by 2020.[108]
It is currently reviewing 13 proposed locations. In July 2008
CLG published Eco-Towns: Living a greener future: Progress
report. This said: "Eco-towns are a response to the challenges
of climate change, the need for more sustainable living, and an
acute housing shortage—including the need for more affordable
housing particularly for families and first-time buyers."[109]
It suggested that eco-towns ought to deliver at least a 60% reduction
(on 1990 levels) in carbon emissions per resident,[110]
and said they should be:
- new settlements for between
5,000 and 15,000 families, with good links to existing towns;
- affordable—30 to 50 per cent of the new
homes will be affordable housing;
- zero carbon—promoting sustainable and healthy
living for existing and future generations;
- equipped with schools, health services, a medium
scale retail centre, business space and leisure facilities;
- attractive places—with large amounts of
open, green space, and state-of-the-art building design; and
- developed with the community for the community.[111]
69. The idea of eco-towns generally received
a cautious welcome in the evidence we received. However, many
submissions contained forceful criticisms and recommendations.
One of the main points was that eco-towns would not make that
significant a contribution to the Government's overall house-building
targets, nor the objectives of increasing affordability that lie
behind them. For instance, David Orr, chief executive of the National
Housing Federation, told us:
They are potentially [important], but we are talking
about three million new homes and the number of homes that will
be supplied in eco towns might be 100,000, 150,000—it is
a relatively small proportion of the total. The importance of
eco towns […] is whether they become exemplars […] and
that learning from those becomes embedded in what we do right
across the country. […] But there is a danger that too much
concentration on the eco towns will take our gaze away from making
the bigger target of the three million new homes and the good
supply of affordable rented housing.[112]
70. The Government has certainly endorsed one
part of this argument, that eco-towns should be influential exemplars.
The memo from Defra and CLG said:
The Government is asking each eco-town proposal to
demonstrate the highest level of excellence in one particular
aspect of environmental sustainability (in addition to higher
than regulatory standards across a wide range of environmental
impacts). For example, this could be in water efficiency levels,
or sustainable drainage systems. In this way eco-towns will demonstrate
as beacons of excellence in the practical demonstration of environmental
sustainability. Among the ideas and examples of innovative approaches
included by bidders are:
- underground systems for waste
recycling;
- free public transport for residents;
- variable charging for car use and remote parking
to deter car use for short journeys;
- green routes to school;
- planting and harvesting woodland around the eco-town
to provide biomass fuelled energy;
- using waste heat from nearby power stations for
homes and businesses.[113]
71. CABE welcomed these proposals, but stressed
that, because eco-towns will only make up a minority of new housing,
that "the ambitious environmental criteria for development
in the proposed eco towns need to be applied to all significant
development." Indeed, they called for the Government to ensure
that "from 2016 all significant developments are subject
to the same tests as for eco-towns."[114]
We asked Dr Richard Simmons, CABE's chief executive, whether this
was practical. He told us:
I think it is pretty demanding but if we are going
to use eco-towns to set the standard—and I think that is
the purpose of them, they are there to be the exemplars—then
I do not see why the rest of the population should not benefit
from exactly the same tests. In fact the government has said in
the Thames Gateway already it is going to have what they call
an eco-quarter, where they are going to apply the eco-town principles
to a substantial chunk of new developments in the Thames Gateway.
So it seems that that principle is understood. The industry will
probably find it quite challenging but if we do not do that then
how are we going to get to the stage of having somewhere like
Birmingham, for example, being able to describe itself as an eco-city?[115]
72. We welcome the idea of setting high sustainability
standards for eco-towns, and for encouraging innovative approaches
to design and technology that can have a wider application throughout
the country. We note, however, that they are only scheduled to
be completed by 2020, the same year by which the Government wants
3 million homes to be built. We wonder how great an influence
they will have in practice, therefore, unless the Government is
envisaging a further major programme house-building on top of
the 3 million new homes by 2020 target.
We recommend that the Government applies the same environmental
tests as set for eco-towns to all major housing developments from
2016. The Government must make clear how eco-towns will improve
sustainability and reduce carbon emissions, particularly through
the wider influence they could have on existing communities.
73. Other criticisms we received focused on Government
policy on deciding where eco-towns should be sited—and on
the very principle of building wholly new, discrete settlements.
The LGA complained that the entire eco-towns process was outside
the existing planning system. Paul Bettinson of the LGA argued
that "simply making dwellings ecologically sound is no reason
for bypassing the planning process which looks at many of the
other elements of a successful development".[116]
CPRE supported this argument, saying:
A serious concern […] is that so much of the
eco-towns process appears to lie outside the established planning
system. […] These plans provide the basis for planning decisions,
they foster consensus and provide certainty to decision makers,
business and communities about the level and location of new development.
[…] In pursuing the eco-towns initiative in the manner it
has done, the Government is jeopardising the achievement of these
plans and sidelining the considerable time and effort communities,
business and planners have put into drawing them up. This is the
antithesis of good planning and crucially, for the purposes of
this inquiry, unlikely to foster sustainable development.[117]
CPRE also expressed concern that some of the proposed
eco-town sites were on, or adjacent to, green belt land. They
proposed that, rather than building wholly new towns, the Government
should build "eco-extensions" to or "eco-quarters"
within existing towns.[118]
74. Sustrans and Car Free UK were concerned that
such new, discrete settlements would be likely to be dependent
on car travel—thus leading to increased carbon emissions,
as well as vulnerability to future oil price shocks. Car Free
UK noted that:
In none of the [proposed eco-town sites], with the
possible exception of Marston, does a mainline railway station
near the new town centre seem likely, and the dispersed settlement
proposal there raises serious doubts about its sustainability.
In several cases rail is mentioned as a possibility, but the line
is either at one extremity of the site (Ford, Elsenham, Weston
Otmoor), or separated from it.[119]
75. CABE were among many organisations which
echoed this concern, stressing that eco-towns should be sited
not simply where there is land available, but where they can be
connected with existing transport infrastructure and labour markets.
They criticised the proposed eco-towns as potentially being too
small, and thus become simply "dormitory towns" for
commuters.[120]
76. We share many of our witnesses'
concerns about the full environmental impacts of eco-towns. We
recommend that the Government re-examines its proposals to ensure
they generate a much greater level of sustainability, particularly
in terms of being located close to existing commercial centres,
employment opportunities, and public transport links.
107 "'Eco-towns' target doubled by PM", BBC
News website, 24 September 2007 Back
108
CLG, Eco-Towns: Living a greener future: Progress report,
July 2008, p 5 Back
109
CLG, Eco-Towns: Living a greener future: Progress report, p
5 Back
110
CLG, Eco-Towns: Living a greener future: Progress report, p
15 Back
111
CLG, Eco-Towns: Living a greener future: Progress report, p
6 Back
112
Q73 Back
113
Ev 90 Back
114
Ev 22 Back
115
Q67 Back
116
Q50 Back
117
Ev 64 Back
118
Ev 64 Back
119
Ev 108 Back
120
Ev 22 Back
|
