Planners debate eco-town initiative

The Town and Country Planning Association have responded to former presidents of the Royal Town Planning Institute’s criticisms of the Government’s eco-town initiative.

Fourteen former presidents of the Royal Town Planning Institute wrote to the Guardian welcoming the concept of eco-towns but voicing strong reservations about "the way in which sites for these developments have been promoted".

Their letter, published in the newspaper on 15 August, stated that some of the proposed eco-towns "represent an undermining of planning policy at both regional and local level. Some have simply provided excuses for landowners to reintroduce tired schemes that have already been rejected within a legitimate planning process. It is our view that this approach is wrong."

The former presidents' letter was particularly critical over the provision of public transport, insisting that "we find little reassurance on this point with most of the eco-towns proposed so far."

The planners concluded: "Securing the best development is a very complex business; to support it a strong planning system is essential. We find it regrettable that a government which professes to endorse sustainability is pursuing an approach which, except in two or three important instances, is likely to achieve exactly the opposite".

In response the Town and Country Planning Association wrote to the Guardian stating we should "be bolder in our planning and recognise that smaller communities, including those using “greenfield” sites, can be very sustainable places to live and work and should be allowed where appropriate".

The letter by TCPA Chair Gideon Amos, published on 20 August, concluded: "Ecotowns should face rigorous planning assessment, but if the nimbys triumph, the causes of responding to climate change and providing good affordable family homes will both have been done a disservice."

Meanwhile, ministers have signalled that the Government’s "sustainability appraisal" of the 13 candidate projects is expected to be published in September at the same time as the proposed draft Planning Policy Statement (PPS) on eco-towns.

The final version of the PPS and the list of locations with the potential to be an eco-town is anticipated "in early 2009", Communities and Local Government has indicated.

Read the former presidents of the Royal Town Planning Institute's letter on the Guardian website

Read the Town and Country Planning Association's letter on the Guardian website

Roger Milne

21 August 2008