MP urges people not to give up fighting eco-town plan

Daniel Fawbert Mills
Cotswold Journal

Mr Luff was speaking after Housing Minister, John Healey, announced today that the Whitehill-Bordon site in Hampshire, St Austell in Cornwall, Rackheath in Norfolk and North West Bicester in Oxfordshire were the first wave of eco-towns across the country to go forward to the planning stage.

The local Middle Quinton proposal, which sits on the border of Wychavon and Stratford, is being considered as part of the West Midlands Spatial Strategy (RSS) and was therefore not part of the government’s latest announcement.

Mr Healey has however called for at least six ‘second wave areas’, which could include Middle Quinton, prompting Mr Luff to urge those opposed to the plans to remain vigilant.

“This news should sound the death knell for the planned eco-town near Long Marston, which, unlike the sites chosen today, is incredibly unpopular locally,” said Mr Luff.

“However, by linking the construction of the Long Marston eco-town in with the RSS there is the real possibility that the town could yet be imposed on the area despite strong local opposition.

“Until the government withdraw their request to include Middle Quinton in the provision of houses required by the RSS, we are not out of the woods.

“That’s why I have today tabled a parliamentary question urging the government to make its intentions clear and remove Middle Quinton from the planning process.”

The department for Communities and Local Government did point out that the four eco-town proposals to progress through the first phase were ‘not isolated developments in the middle of the countryside’.

Councillor Judy Pearce, executive board member for planning at Wychavon District Council, added that the council’s opposition “will remain as determined as ever."