Call to drop eco-town plan

7:04am Friday 22nd February 2008

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THE Campaign to Protect Rural England has called on Hazel Blears to drop Long Marston from the list of possible eco towns.

The countryside campaigner is the latest body to voice its concerns over the government's eco town plan, and has asked that the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Hazel Blears, exclude the location from the shortlist of names.

The CPRE has stated that the development at the isolated former Royal Engineers depot does not meet any regional or local planning need, and its location and likely dependence on car use would make it far from ecological.

Mark Sullivan, technical secretary for CPRE Warwickshire Branch, said: "Eco towns are supposed to be new forms of development which minimise consumption of natural resources, including fuel and power, and thus carbon dioxide emissions.

"But they will never be self-sustaining, effective communities if they are sited in the wrong places."

In a letter to Hazel Blears, the CPRE stated four main points of objection to the eco town at Long Marston - it would be unsustainable, it would harm the environment, it would provide no benefit to the local economy and would be at risk of flooding they argued.

"The CPRE Warwickshire Branch is of the firm opinion that to build Middle Quinton' at the Long Marston depot site would be an unmitigated disaster" Mr Sullivan added.

"The made-up name is also borrowed, without their agreement, from the nearby villages of Upper Quinton and Lower Quinton that lie within the Cotswold Area of Natural Beauty "We believe that the Long Marston site should be removed from the list and not be allowed to proceed to the next stage."