July 2007- Britian had announced that it will initiate ‘zero carbon’ architecture and town planning by building 5 ‘Ecotowns’ to meet their demand for 2 million new homes by 2016.
‘The towns, each with a minimum of 5,000 to 10,000 houses, will be built to meet zero carbon standards and will each showcase a specific project promoting energy preservation or green technology. Projects to be showcased could include use of communal heat pump systems or car pool schemes,’ the Communities and Local government office said.
UK government even launched a Architecture Design Competition and invited entries for design and layouts of Ecotowns.
You can view the Ecotown prospectus here.
While the government offices move ahead with their plans, people have opposed the plans. People of Warwickshire threaten to march in protest. OPPOSITION to a proposed 6,000-home eco-town at Long Marston also intensified this week as a second Conservative MP came out against the scheme and a petition appealing directly to Prime Minister Gordon Brown appeared on the website of 10 Downing Street. You can read more here: Risible Claims for Ecotown and Protest over plans for Ecotown
Is UK not trying to do what the world needs today? With the climate crisis growing, do we have another solution? There can be opinions against the sites/ locations selected viz-a-viz existing towns but not against the idea.
Green is no longer an option, it is a necessity. Climate crisis is not a myth, it is a reality.
The village where I live is already seeing new homes built on brownfield sites, which I support especially as the larger scheme has a social housing requirement tacked on. Ideally these buildings would be eco-houses as well. The government expects the local borough council to build 6,500 new homes which the borough council is achieving through smaller scale brownfield developments.
However, one of these so-called “Eco Towns” is proposed to be built within the borough as well. This proposal is for 15,000 homes – well in excess of the 6,500 needed – and will be built on green wedge. Details leaked (not given, but leaked) to the local newspaper include plans to include two park and ride schemes on the outskirts of the “Eco Town”, making a mockery of claims that the “Eco Town” will be self-contained with business units so no one needs to leave the area to drive to work or take children to schools (although whether any schools will be included is unconfirmed). In any case the proposed site is inbetween two A-roads that already suffer congestion.
I’m not against the idea, but I am against building excessive numbers of homes in green wedge areas. The building of these eco towns should be sympathetic to local housing needs, use brownfield sites where possible and take into account the strain on existing infrastructure.
I really appreciate you taking the time and sharing first hand information. Forums like this give us an opportunity to bring out the real facts, and try and find a solution to the problems. I guess, most of the problems remain unsolved because of unawareness. Thank you.