eco-towns

Eco-towns image Eco-towns will be new towns which are exemplar green developments of a minimum of 5000 homes. They will be designed to meet the highest standards of sustainability, including low and zero carbon technologies and good public transport.

News

Allocation of funding for first wave eco-towns announced

On 8 February 2010 the Housing Minister, John Healey, announced the funding allocations for the four first wave eco-town locations. £60 million was made available from the Growth Fund in July 2009 alongside the publication of the Planning Policy Statement (PPS), for local authorities in the first wave areas (see News Release: John Healey: Green light given on eco-town sites plus tougher standards for future homes for background). This will help fund key local infrastructure improvements and early demonstrator projects at the sites - designed to trial the kind of technologies and projects which will be rolled out across the whole towns, and showcase some of the latest sustainable technology and behaviour change techniques available. Details about the levels of funding for each location can be found in News Release - John Healey: Over £60m to lay green foundations of eco-towns - 8 February 2010.

CLG funding is helping to support a range of innovative projects, including 25 homes to be built to Code for Sustainable Homes level 6 powered by a biomass-fired Combined Heat and Power plant (Whitehill-Bordon), a project to initiate and encourage long lasting behaviour change (Rackheath) and projects to benefit the community and promote readiness for change among existing residents (Bicester and St Austell). More details about the projects are available in News Release - John Healey: Over £60m to lay green foundations of eco-towns - 8 February 2010. All building projects will be subject to planning permission before proceeding.

In addition, the Department for Children Schools and Families (DCSF) has provided £2.5million match funding for education related projects in the eco-town locations. Projects which will be taken forward as a result include retrofitting primary schools and a library in the Whitehill-Bordon area and the inclusion of eco-features for the new sixth form building for the Cooper School in Bicester.

Expressions of interest received for funding to examine feasibility of further exemplar green developments

On 1 December 2009 Housing Minister John Healey announced that CLG had received expressions of interest from a number of areas wishing to examine the feasibility of development to eco-town standards. The locations (PDF 1.5 Mb) and places that have come forward show how the PPS standards are being rolled out and taken up in a variety of ways. The minister also announced that the money available to new locations has been doubled, to £10 million. This will help fund some early stage demonstrator projects at the sites.

More details about the announcement are set out in the Written Ministerial Statement of 1 December 2009 (external link).

We will now be taking these proposals forward in more detailed discussion with the authorities, and working with partners across Government and the Agencies, with a view to providing funding support for more detailed design and to test feasibility.

Planning Policy Statement: eco-towns and potential locations published

On 16 July 2009 Housing Minister, John Healey announced the publication of the Planning Policy Statement: eco-towns and supporting documents. The Planning Policy Statement: eco-towns sets out the highest ever standards for green living and includes the locations which have been assessed as having the potential for an eco-town.

These locations are: Whitehill-Bordon in Hampshire, St Austell (China Clay Community) in Cornwall, Rackheath (Norwich) in Norfolk and North West Bicester in Oxfordshire (see the eco-towns location map). All eco-town schemes brought forward at these locations will have to go through the usual local planning process. Further information can be found in the following publications:

Local authorities in the 'first wave' of locations with the potential to have an eco-town are bidding for funding to support local infrastructure

Local authorities in the 'first-wave' of locations are in the process of submitting bids for the £60million start-up funding, which was announced by John Healey in his statement of 16 July 2009. This follows consultation with local authorities, their delivery team partners, and the Local Government Association on the process for allocating this funding.

A copy of the consultation document is available here - Eco-towns: allocations from the eco-towns fund.

Consultation on draft Eco-towns Planning Policy Statement closed

The consultation on the draft Eco-towns Planning Policy Statement ended on 30 April 2009. A decision in relation to Middle Quinton will not be made until Communities and Local Government has received the report of the Panel on the West Midlands Regional Spatial Strategy.

When in due course a decision is taken on Middle Quinton we will take account of all the responses we have had to the eco-towns consultation as well as the outcome of the panel report on the West Midlands Regional Spatial Strategy. We will also take into account any further representations on any new or additional matters which may arise in relation to Middle Quinton before a decision is taken. People wishing to make such representations should email or post them to the eco-towns team:

Email: ecotowns@communities.gsi.gov.uk

By post:

eco-towns team
Communities and Local Government
Zone 1/J9
Eland House
Bressenden Place
London
SW1E 5DU

Please see Frequently asked questions about eco-towns section for more details.