Eco-towns (UK)

Eco-towns are a government-sponsored programme of new towns to be built in England, which are intended to achieve exemplary standards of sustainability.

In 2007, the Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG) announced a competition to build up to 10 eco-towns. The proposals received support from organisations such as the Town and Country Planning Association but have also attracted controversy and scepticism (see for example Manns 2008).

Initially over fifty eco-town bids were suggested, many of them modified versions of existing housing scheme proposals. The eco-town concept and initial locations were subject to consultation by Communities and Local Government ending on 30 June 2008.

A new Planning Policy Statement was prepared and published on 16 July 2009, describing the standards that eco-towns will have to meet, after a consultation period that ended on 30 April 2009.

By 2012, only four sites have been approved, with none completed.

In January 2017 a new initiative for fourteen Garden Villages and three Garden Towns was announced by Conservative Government. This included West Carclaze in Cornwall which was part of the initial eco-town proposal.

The eco-towns programme was intended to offer the opportunity to achieve high standards of sustainable living while also maximising the potential for affordable housing. Some 30% to 40% of housing in each eco-town is to be allocated as affordable, and made available to the thousands currently on the local housing waiting lists.

The largest will provide up to 20,000 new homes, with officials saying the towns should be "zero-carbon" developments and should be exemplary in one area of sustainability, such as energy production or waste disposal. The new environmentally-friendly towns - low-energy, carbon-neutral developments built from recycled materials - are intended to be largely car-free, with pedestrian and cycle-friendly environments.

The towns will need to adhere to strict development criteria which were developed by the Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) through 'worksheets' as advice to promoters and planners. The following were published - transport, community development, waste management, green infrastructure and water cycle management, and could be accessed from the TCPA website.

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