Council opposes eco-town plan

Winchester City Council has told the Government that proposals for a 12,500 dwelling eco-town at Michel ever Station would undermine the regeneration aims for south Hampshire and risk creating "a distant and isolated dormitory for London".

Councillor George Beckett, leader of the council, has sent a detailed letter to communities secretary Hazel Blears voicing council and local opposition to Eagle Star Estates proposals.

Councillor Beckett complained that the developer's plans for an eco-town were wholly inappropriate and represented a "re-badging" of proposals which had been rejected during the preparation of both the original and current Hampshire structure plans, the review of the city's local plan in 2006 and during work on the regional spatial strategy.

Meanwhile campaigners have launched an online petition to try to stop plans for another of the current crop of around 50 eco-town schemes under consideration by the Government. In this case the proposal is for an 865-acre site at Grovewood, near Drakelow in southern Derbyshire near Burton upon Trent. The proposed project, unveiled by Banks Developments, is earmarked for land which forms part of the National Forest.

In a related but separate development planning minister Yvette Cooper has announced the details of the house builder who will build England's first eco-village.

Barratt Developments PLC has been selected by English Partnerships, the Government's national regeneration agency, as the preferred developer to create a new community at the site of the former Hanham Hall Hospital near Bristol. Homes on the site will meet the Government's most exacting eco standard – Level 6 of the Code for Sustainable Homes.

Hanham Hall was the first site identified under the Carbon Challenge, the initiative run by English Partnerships as part of the Government's commitment to tackle climate change. The Carbon Challenge will deliver zero carbon homes and communities in advance of this becoming mandatory in 2016, and help the house building sector demonstrate that the targets are feasible and can be commercially viable.

As well as zero-carbon homes the Hanham Hall project will create eco lifestyles. It will hand over a listed building to community use, capture rainwater and include sustainable drainage, farmers' shops, a car club and bicycle storage.

Read the Winchester City Council press release

Read the Communities and Local Government news release on the Hanham Hall project

Roger Milne

19 December 2007