Residents vote against South Yorkshire eco-town » Housing » 24dash.com

A poll of residents living near one the proposed eco-towns on the Government's shortlist today went overwhelmingly against the development.

Members of Rossington Parish Council, in South Yorkshire, said its vote showed the strength of local opinion against the proposed development around the site of the former colliery in the village, near Doncaster, despite a turnout under 10%.

Local people were asked in the parish poll: "Do you believe it is the best interests of the Rossington community to encourage extra housing on the greenfield sites around or within our village?"

A total of 898 people voted "no" with just 31 yes.

But the turnout was only 9.6%.

Parish council chairman Terry Wilde said opposition to the scheme would be strengthened by the result.

He said: "I was pretty confident that the vote would go our way but this result is just incredible.

"Developers have been saying there is 80% support for the eco-town but this shows they are plain wrong."

The proposed Rossington eco-town would involve 5,000 houses - a plan recently scaled down from the original scheme for 15,000 homes.

The vote came just a day after housing minister Caroline Flint outlined further standards which the environmentally-friendly settlements will be expected to meet.

These include one which states that at least one worker per household should be able to get to their job by walking, cycling or using public transport.

All buildings will have to be "zero-carbon" and a least 30% must be affordable.

Mr Wilde said: "I just can't see this getting off the ground now. Not in the next five years.

"Who is going to buy them all? Developers have virtually stopped their building projects everywhere."

The Government shortlisted 15 proposals for the new settlements in April and has said up to 10 final approved bids would have to go through the planning process once they have been chosen later this year.