'Provide for eco-town residents to grow own food'
All residents of the proposed new eco-towns should have access to land where they can grow their own food, new guidance drawn up by a planning group advising the government over the initiative has urged.
The guidance, just published by the Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA), also recommended that developers should provide at least one major, well-equipped park in each eco-town.
The TCPA also called for a network of "greenways" to link larger and more expansive open spaces in each new settlement.
At the launch of the eco-town worksheet on green infrastructure TCPA chief executive Gideon Amos said: "New settlements today could reinvent garden city living for a new, low-carbon century."
Helen Phillips, chief executive of Natural England, said: "Eco-towns must have green spaces at their hearts, providing health and exercise benefits for the communities who live there, new habitats for wildlife and places for people to enjoy the natural environment."
Meanwhile a High Court judge has agreed that there should be a judicial review of the government's eco-town programme following an application from the pressure group campaigning against the proposed Middle Quinton development in Warwickshire.
Mr Justice Collins commented that there must be concern that the defendant [the Communities Secretary] "may have disqualified herself from considering any planning application for an eco-town because of perceived bias in favour".
A spokesman for Communities and Local Government said: "We believe we have acted properly throughout this process and will defend this claim vigorously."
Roger Milne
18 September 2008
Advertisement:
© Crown Copyright 2008