Eco-town growth falls
 on rocky ground

There is a fanaticism pervading the realms of trade, service and commerce. Environmentally clean practices are driving business in the first decade of the 21st Century as companies look to survive on the back of efficiency savings.

There is no logic to driving half empty trucks hundreds of miles to distribution centres, powering hotels on uneconomic fuels or employing staff, who do not understand the benefits of switching off lights when 
they leave a room.

The business world has adopted a fundamentalism, once the domain of the idealistic green lobby, that provides pragmatic solutions to profits. Why then is the Government’s programme for eco-towns looking so shaky and why are new regulations that will govern their creation not being rolled out to the wider building sector?

Costs: In a word, cash. If the economy is in partial melt down, the property market is in shutdown. While the logistics, manufacturing and leisure sectors benefit from adopting green initiatives that mitigate their costs in a crisis, developers stand to benefit almost nothing. Eco-real estate may offer long term savings to home owners, but it makes less economic sense to a builder in a struggling market footing the bill for solar panels, grey-water collection tanks and affordable housing.

The Town and Country Planning Association has welcomed eco-towns in the UK, but has joined a growing number of agencies and charities calling for eco-standards to be adopted in all new builds. Speaking on November 4, chief executive Gideon Amos said there was broad support from the public for pursuing a ‘blueprint for low -carbon living’ that should not be undermined by financial matters. “The eco-town concept is welcomed by the bulk of people,” said Mr Amos. “Despite the tough economic circumstances these priorities remain vital to our common future.”

If the pressure is mounting on Gordon Brown and the housing sector to deliver, then public money may offer the only solution. But can Brown afford to save the planet and the UK economy all at the same time? The alternative is to renege on a promise he made less than 14 months ago: tens of thousands of new homes in zero carbon towns.

Sweden: The eco-story begun in Sweden, 25 years ago, when basic principles of ‘sustainability’ came to represent high social values. The idea was simple enough. Rather than pursuing individual projects and systems such as alternative energy streams and green buildings, a town community would be created to offer a more holistic approach to eco living. The role of the local government authority was all important to these towns, as issues of sustainability were at the forefront 
of decisions it made.

The Overtornea community first adopted an Eco-town framework in Sweden in 1983 followed in 1995 by a formal organisation (SEKOM). Other cities and towns made use of similar objectives, which focused on reducing reliance on fossil fuels, synthetic chemicals and any impact on the natural environment. Since then more than 60 locations have officially become eco-municipalities. Within a decade the idea was being implemented around the world as communities in America and Europe became eco-municipalities ranging is size from villages with 300 to 
cities of inhabited by up to 700,000.

The UK joined the party late. The model for zero-carbon towns with up to 10,000 homes was revealed by former Housing Minister Yvette Cooper in March 2007. Five towns were to be built by 2016. Later that year the number increased to 10 towns by 2020, part of the Government plan to build three million homes in 12 years. The UK Communities and Local Government department launched a competition to build the towns in England on brownfield sites.

Shortlist: A shortlist of 15 areas was drawn up which included: Pennbury, Leicestershire; Manby and Strubby, Lincolnshire; Curborough, Staffordshire; Middle Quinton, Warwickshire; Bordon-Whitehill, Hampshire; Weston Otmoor, Oxfordshire; Ford, West Sussex; Imerys China Clay Community, Cornwall; Rossington, South Yorkshire; Coltishall, Norfolk; Hanley Grange, Cambridgeshire; Marston Vale and New Marston, Bedfordshire; Elsenham, Essex; Rushcliffe, Nottinghamshire, and Leeds city region, Yorkshire.

An excited Gordon Brown promised that communities of ‘low-carbon and carbon-neutral homes’ were the future. Speaking to the Labour conference at Bournemouth in September 2007, the newly elected Prime Minister said: “For the first time in nearly half a century we will show the imagination to build new towns – eco-towns with low and zero-carbon homes. “And today, because of the responses we have received, we are announcing that instead of just five new eco-towns we will now aim for ten – building thousands of new homes in every region of the country.”

Dubbed ‘Brown’s Homes’, the detail was simple enough
Original features included:
between 30 and 50 percent affordable housing
a distinct identity
zero carbon
an exemplar in one area of environment technology
good facilities including a secondary school,
shopping, business space and leisure

Affordable: The ambitious plan served to solve two key problems. Firstly, the need for more houses. Building rates halved during the last 30 years of the 20th century, while the number of households grew by 30 percent. This shortage fuelled an unprecedented boom in values as prices almost trebled in 20 years.

The affordability crisis impacted most on young people and key sector workers in areas of high demand. The National Housing and Planning Advice Unit estimated in 2007 that average home prices were set to reach ten times annual earnings for the next generation if the government failed to build more homes.

By ensuring that between 30 and 50 percent of the new housing was affordable, Brown demonstrated he considered solving this problem as a priority. And then there was the environment factor, supposedly the greatest challenge facing humanity, until it was superseded by the economic woes of 2008. Housing accounts for 27 percent of carbon emissions (around 40 million tonnes) via the energy used to heat, light and run our homes. The need to provide zero carbon developments was a natural goal in the Brown Homes project, and the eco-town offered the Prime Minister the vehicle to solve this as well as the affordability issue.

Funding: Former Housing Minister Yvette Cooper announced £2m funding to develop plans for the original five eco-towns in March 2007. Although Brown announced in September the project had been scaled up, things appeared to have quickly changed by early 2008 as concerns over the global economy grew. The Government announced a shortlist of 15 bids on April 3, 2008, from the 57 originally submitted, which were considered suitable for advancing to eco-town status. But a significant amendment emerged in the new detail. The amount of affordable housing had changed from ‘30-50 percent’ to ‘a minimum of 30 percent’. And there was more. Public protests were now fuelled by the realisation that previous Government claims that only brownfield sites would be used were not strictly accurate. The Campaign to Protect Rural England joined the backlash claiming a number of locations involved greenfield and agricultural land.

Change: July brought news of another change, but perhaps a more significant one. Housing Minister Caroline Flint published a progress report, which detailed the UK’s ‘toughest ever green standards’ for new housing. She said that only ‘the best quality schemes, with very high sustainability standards’ would qualify for eco-town status. This statement, although welcomed by some, seemed to indicate that Brown’s original target of 10 eco-towns was less important than the ‘quality’ of the approved schemes.

Many organisations, including the Environment Agency and The Town and Country Planning Association, supported the tougher targets. Zero carbon status was upgraded to include all the town’s buildings, including commercial and public buildings and not just the homes. Forty percent of land within the town would be green space, at least half of which would be open to the public as parks or recreation areas. Residents would be able to make the majority of their journeys using public transport, walking and cycling, Flint explained.

“These would be the toughest standards ever set out for new development and demonstrate that there will be no compromise on quality with eco-towns,” she said, hitting back at critics who suggested the 10 town plan was being scaled down. But there was an overwhelming sense this was a utopian ideal being scaled down rather than up.

Beckett: Four months later Margaret Beckett, the new housing minister, did nothing to alleviate those concerns when she confirmed the new standards were likely to rule out several of the projects. Speaking at the announcement of a new shortlist of 12 on November 4, 2008, (following the withdrawal of several bids) she said: “I believe it is vital we get the locations for these eco-towns right, and the shortlist has been refined. “But I do not expect all of these locations to go forward – the eco-town standards are tough and I think some of these shortlisted schemes could struggle to meet them.”

The ‘refined’ candidate locations were graded as A, B and C – with A being suitable, B being suitable subject to meeting specific planning and design objectives and C being suitable only with substantial and exceptional innovation. Only Rackheath in Norwich was given an A grade. The Western Otmoor proposal, in Oxfordshire, received a C rating, while the rest were handed Bs. The proposals and standards are open for consultation and comment from local communities until February 2009.

Final stages: A final decision on up to ten potential locations will be made early 2009, after which the individual schemes will each have to submit planning applications. Head of the Environment Agency, Paul Leinster, welcomed the draft planning policy for eco-towns on November 4, but he joined those calling for eco-practices to be adopted by more widely. “I believe the planning statement should be a benchmark for all other forms of housing development to help create sustainable communities,” he said. Analysts expect less, rather than more. Most predict as few as two or three eco-town projects could be taken forward to the final stage. Green logic may still be driving savings in the wider business market, but eco-sense remains more illusive for Mr Brown and the housing market as attempts are 
made to balance the books for 2009.

The shortlist of 12 potential locations for eco-towns:
Rackheath, Greater Norwich:     Grade A
Middle Quinton, Warwickshire:     Grade B
Newton-Bingham (Rushcliffe), 
Nottinghamshire:     Grade B
Ford, West Sussex:     Grade B
Bordon-Whitehill, Hampshire:     Grade B
St Austell (China Clay 
Community), Cornwall:     Grade B
Rossington, South Yorkshire:     Grade B
North East Elsenham, Essex:     Grade B
Pennbury, Leicestershire:     Grade B
Marston Vale, Bedfordshire:     Grade B
North West Bicester (Cherwell)- 
alternative to Weston Otmoor:     Grade B
Weston Otmoor, Oxfordshire:     Grade C

Grade A: generally suitable for an eco-town. Grade B: Might be a suitable location subject to meeting specific planning and design objectives. Grade C: Location only likely to be suitable as an eco-town with substantial and exceptional innovation