Cranbrook will showcase 'eco-towns initiative' » Environment » 24dash.com

The new community to be built at Cranbrook in East Devon will serve as a prototype for the new Eco-towns that Prime Minister Gordon Brown wants to see built in future.

And in pressing for the highest possible standards of sustainability and renewable energy usage on the green-field development near Rockbeare, with its own railway station, East Devon District Council is “blazing the trail, with challenging targets for energy efficiency and rail links into Exeter”.

That's according to Richard McCarthy, Director General of Programmes, Policy and Innovation at the Department for Communities and Local Government, at a Growth Summit following this week’s launch of the Government Green Paper on Housing.

Mr McCarthy told an audience of 300 delegates from central and local government with a special interest in regeneration and housing provision:”We must not overlook the need for good design of both homes and communities, the urgent need for the highest environmental standards and lifestyles, and an innovative approach to transport provision.
Challenging

“Some of you are already making great progress in these areas.  East Devon District Council are blazing the trail with the Cranbrook development east of Exeter, which will serve as a prototype of the new eco-towns which the Prime Minister has announced, with challenging targets for energy efficiency and rail links into Exeter”.

East Devon delegates attending the conference at Reading were Councillor Ray Franklin, EDDC’s Portfolio Holder for Strategic Planning and Regeneration, Karime Hassan, Corporate Director Environment, and Fliss Morey, the Council’s East of Exeter Projects Director.
 
Afterwards Ray Franklin said: “We are working closely with the East Devon New Community Partners to achieve stretching targets on sustainability and renewable energy provision at Cranbrook.

“I am extremely proud of the team at East Devon who are responsible for handling the Cranbrook development for the progress they have made, which has attracted such praise from high ranking national officials.

“Not only were we mentioned in dispatches by the Director General of Programmes and Policy, but Cranbrook also features prominently in the Government’s Eco-towns Prospectus, launched this month (July).

“This is a real tribute to the hard work and tenacity of everyone concerned in the project, including the developers, in striving for the very highest standards for this exciting new town”.

Councillor Franklin added that affordability was not being forgotten either.

The target is that 40% of Cranbrook’s first 2,900 homes should be Affordable Housing.

In the wake of the praise for the work on Cranbrook comes news that the New Community Partnership now believe they can exceed the stretching target of 16.4% renewable energy set by the Council in December last year.

Negotiations are still proceeding over some of the detail of the development, ahead of a formal granting of outline planning permission, but EDDC understands the consortium can now deliver 16.7% renewable energy.

Planning Officers and Members want Cranbrook to be at the cutting edge of green-ness whilst taking a practical attitude to what current technologies can realistically deliver.

In time, the town is expected to grow to at least 5,000 homes.

For the first 2,900 homes, the Council set developers a challenging new sustainability code of practice introduced by the Government on 13 December 2006.

The code, which includes a range of mandatory standards to be achieved from April 2008 in terms of energy and carbon dioxide, water use, materials, surface water run-off and waste, has now been agreed with the Partnership.

EDDC’s Development Control Committee agreed in December that the developers should deliver buildings with a minimum of 16.4% renewable energy.

Non-domestic buildings are still governed by the BREEAM standard and an agreement to provide at least “Very Good” has already been achieved for Cranbrook.

From the very first inkling that the new community was to be built, EDDC said it would insist that the town would meet high standards of design and sustainability. In an area of high house prices and low wages, EDDC also signalled how seriously it takes its responsibility to families on low incomes – hence the 40% affordable homes target.

In the Eco-towns Prospectus, EDDC’s Leader, Councillor Sara Randall Johnson, says: “Our vision is to realise the full economic potential of Exeter as a major regional centre, providing a range of employment opportunities and a self-sufficient new urban community where people will have the ability to live in close proximity to where the majority of new jobs will be provided. Expansion of Cranbrook will play a major part in this vision”.

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