Local authorities take the lead in new green communities

Leading planning and housing charity, the Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) are delighted that local authority led proposals in Cornwall, Hampshire, Oxford and Norfolk have been confirmed in national planning policy today as locations for new eco-towns. These eco-developments will pioneer innovative design and low carbon infrastructure for greener living. The national eco-town programme has captured the imagination of these local authorities and demonstrates that eco-towns now have the cross-party political support needed to ensure their delivery.

TCPA Chief Executive Gideon Amos OBE said:
“Today eco-towns have now become as much a local as a national project. We are delighted that local authorities are seizing the opportunity that development provides to pioneer new and better ways to develop for the future. Millions of homes will need to be built over the next few decades and a bold programme of exemplars now shared by central and local government is timely, necessary and urgent.”

The Eco-town Planning Policy Statement sets out the toughest ever sustainability standards for development and lays the foundations for further eco-town schemes to come forward. By listing tested locations in national planning policy for the first time the document also sets a precedent for other forthcoming policy statements on the location of energy and transport infrastructure such as airports. By sharing best practice and new innovation eco-towns provide the opportunity to help communities in our existing towns and cities make a more informed and strategic response to climate change and sustainable housing growth.

Gideon Amos OBE said:
“These are the highest ever planning standards set for new development in this country. This charity is immensely proud that the policy advocates TCPA published standards for eco-towns. The Association’s campaign for development such as eco-towns built to address the new environmental challenges of climate change builds on 110 years of actively advancing the case for greener towns and cities which start with its members building the world’s first Garden City at Letchworth in 1903.”

The TCPA also warmly welcomed the announcement made today by Housing Minister John Healey to review and combine the Government’s climate change and renewable energy planning policy statements.

Gideon Amos OBE added:
“The eco-town programme has helped stimulate interest in eco-development more generally – now it is time to bring the environmental and quality of life standards set out by the policy into the national and international mainstream. We are also delighted that Government has addressed our campaign to review and strengthen current climate change policy for all development. This is a clear indication that the Government is listening to our new cross sector coalition, lead by the TCPA in partnership with Friends of the Earth, and it is a powerful foundation for our work in this area.”