An Eco-Town for Cornwall?

 

WRITTEN MINISTERIAL STATEMENT ON ECO-TOWNS 

 

BY THE HOUSING AND PLANNING MINISTER - CAROLINE FLINT MP 

 

Thursday 3 April 2008  

 

In July last year, the Government published a prospectus outlining its intention to build up to ten "Eco-Towns".  Eco-Towns are a response to the twin challenges of an acute housing shortage and climate change.  They will test out new ways of designing and building towns to achieve zero carbon standards and promote more sustainable living.   

 

The Eco-Towns prospectus outlined the criteria for a successful Eco-Town: 

  

(1)  That they should be new settlements of between 5000 and 20,000 homes, separate and distinct from existing towns, but well linked to them; 

 

(2)  The development as a whole should reach zero carbon standards and each town should be an exemplar in at least one area of environmental sustainability; 

 

(3)  It should include a good range of facilities - a secondary school, a medium scale retail centre, and good quality business space and leisure facilities; 

 

(4)  Between thirty and fifty per cent of the housing should be affordable, with a particular emphasis on larger family homes; and

 

(5)  There should be a management body to help develop the town, support people and businesses moving to the new community, and to co-ordinate service delivery. 

 

In response to the Government's invitation, 57 proposals for Eco-Towns were received.  There has been a rigorous cross-government assessment of these bids, particularly focusing on the existing transport infrastructure and local environment.  The assessment also looked at the likely benefits to existing communities, the contribution an Eco-Town would make to local housing needs, and the likelihood of the proposal being successfully delivered.     

 

Today, the Government is publishing a short-list of fifteen locations which will go through to the next stage of consultation.  The suggested site in Cornwall is near to St Austell, where around 5000 homes could be built on industrial land previously used by the china clay industry. 

 

As with all potential locations, the site near St Austell has been published as part of a consultation document "Eco-Towns - Living a Greener Future", that invites views on both the broader objectives and benefits of eco-towns, and on those locations which the Government regards as the most promising.   The Government will also be looking at the proposed schemes from promoters and it is expected that each proposal will be further refined and improved over the coming months.  The review will be looking for clear evidence that each scheme: 

 

(1)  Achieves the highest possible environmental standards, not only mitigating the impact of development, but positively enhancing the site, as well as reducing the need for residents to rely on cars; 

 

(2)  is clearly deliverable, with funding identified and proper management arrangements set out; and 

 

(3)  is affordable, with a clearly agreed basis for contributions from private investors and public sector agencies. 

 

A panel of experts will advise and challenge those leading the proposals to improve the environmental credentials of each project.  The Government will also be providing support to the relevant local authorities, comparable to the support on offer to local authorities designated as growth points or growth areas.  The Government will continue to work in partnership with local government and the Local Government Association as these schemes move forward.  

    

This consultation is the first of four key stages in the planning process for Eco-Towns.  

 

Stage One: Three month consultation on preliminary views on Eco-Town benefits and these short listed locations;  

 

Stage Two: Further consultation this summer on a Sustainability Appraisal, which provides a more detailed assessment of these locations, and a draft Planning Policy Statement. 

 

Stage Three: A decision on the list of locations with the potential to be an Eco-Town, as part of the final Planning Policy Statement, will be issued later this year.  

 

Stage Four: Like any other proposed development, individual schemes will need to submit planning applications which will be decided on the merits of the proposal. 

 

The Government's objective is that five eco-towns should be completed by 2016, and up to ten by 2020.  Work is expected to begin on some sites by 2010.   

 

The Eco-Towns Prospectus can be found at:

 

http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/housing/pdf/ecotowns 

 

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However, CPRE's National Office questions the need for Eco Towns: 

 

Are 3 million new homes by 2020 really needed?  

 

Shouldn't we pursue the alternatives before building on precious countryside? 

 

Your help is needed to persuade the Government to rethink its housing plans.  

 

Please email the housing minister today:

 

http://e-activist.com/ea-campaign/clientcampaign.do?ea.client.id=21&ea.campaign.id=141 

 

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As for Cornwall, please send your views to our Chairman, Tony Hilton, at:

 

This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it   

 

Shouldn't we tidy up our existing towns first? 

 

Is further urban sprawl really necessary, particularly as the Cornish landscape is so valuable to the Cornish Economy? 

 

Is the site of the proposed Eco-Town too near the intended location of the Waste Incinerator at St Dennis? 

 

Whilst it is laudable to ameliorate the lunar landscape left by the china clay workings, is the construction of an Eco-Town the best way forward? 

 

It would also be helpful if the terms "affordable homes" and "sustainable living" could be clearly defined! 

 

Ted Venn

4^th April 2008

 

The Case Against Wind Farms

First of all, I do agree that the concept of renewable energy is a worthwhile objective; even isolated and individual wind turbines.  Wind farms, on the other hand, where a number of wind turbines are grouped together, are to be deplored.  Not only are wind farms unsightly, they are a threat to birds, noisy and possibly hypnotic.  I mention hypnotic because the Government announced, at the beginning of March, a plan for wind turbines to be placed at regular intervals along motorways (and possibly dual-carriageways like the A30).  I fear that establishing wind farms in this way could lead to numerous road traffic accidents, as drivers could be distracted by the hypnotic effect of revolving turbine blades.  Even off-shore wind farms are to be condemned, as both a navigational hazard and because they will ruin a national treasure - the coast line.

Wind turbines are:

·        inefficient

·        dependant on the right amount of wind

·        obtrusive

·        noisy

·        subject to constant maintenance

·        expensive to construct

The Government is keen on wind turbines and wind farms because it helps to achieve agreed global targets for renewable energy in an effort to combat climate change and reduce reliance on dwindling supplies of fossil fuels.  In an effort to promote the construction and use of wind turbines, the Government not only provides grants for their construction, but will also pay for the electricity produced to be fed into the National Grid.  This apparent total reliance on wind as the main source of renewable energy fails to consider that alternative sources of energy will be required when demand is high, or if wind conditions do not permit electricity to be generated, when there is either no wind or too much wind.

Although the construction of wind farms sounds as if it is a simple, cost-effective and easy solution to the country’s energy needs, most planning applications do not clearly reveal the need for substantial additional infrastructure, such as substations and transmission lines.  In Scotland, the 189 wind turbines proposed for the North of Lewis are likely to be scrapped by the Scottish Parliament on grounds of cost and damage to the environment.  Sadly, in Cornwall, the plan for a wind farm at Morwenstow, which has been the subject of a recent public enquiry, has been allowed despite having previously been rejected by North Cornwall District Council.  However, only three turbines are to be constructed and there are many provisos - but is this the thin end of the wedge?

Research has shown that wind energy is not the long awaited panacea to guard against carbon emissions.  Nor will it provide cheap and reliable energy.  A study of wind farms in Denmark and the UK by Hugh Sharman, head of the international energy consulting company, Incoteco, states that although the impending energy crisis will present substantial challenges to every sphere of industrial, domestic and commercial activity, the UK will need as diverse an energy supply as possible.  Although Denmark has numerous wind farms, both on-shore and off-shore, that country could not totally rely on wind power for its needs.  In fact, Sharman found that contrary to popular myth, Denmark obtains less than 20% of its energy requirements from wind power.  Sharman considered that in view of the Danish experience it is probably imprudent to expect the UK to do any better.  In Sharman’s opinion, the targets set for wind energy and the prospects for implementation are really unrealistic.  In view of this, it really would be a waste of money and resources to develop numerous wind farms, which could end up being abandoned because they were found to be an inefficient way to provide energy.  Abandoned wind farms could be the monument that is left all over the landscape to commemorate another failure to manage the UK’s energy requirements properly.  

It is essential that the country considers alternatives to its reliance on oil now!  Perhaps nuclear energy is the answer, even if it is so unpalatable.  Solar energy is another option, and so is the use of energy saving products and technology.  In order to combat dwindling fossil based resources, the reliance on overseas supplies and climate change, it is imperative that decisions are made without further delay.  Politicians should be made aware of public anxiety and be urged to act for the national interest as soon as possible.

Ted Venn