The Sheate Report

One of the UK’s leading independent experts in Environmental Assessment, from Imperial College, London, has completed a damning analysis of the Government’s November 2008 Sustainability Appraisal (SA), draft Eco-town Planning Policy Statement (PPS), the Eco-town Programme and the Scoping Report, with particular regard to “Middle Quinton”. 

William Sheate, expert advisor to the EC and various Governments, including the UK, concludes that the CLG’s Sustainability Appraisals of its flagship housing project are “exceptionally poor” and appear to fail to comply with the European SEA Directive.  He suggests that there may be scope for a formal complaint to the European Commission.

Furthermore he says: “I am quite astonished at the disingenuous nature of the justifications and explanations for the approaches adopted.  And I am genuinely surprised that the consultants concerned would have produced such reports unless they had been placed under considerable pressure from CLG, both in terms of approach and content, and the timescale to complete it.”

Mr Sheate is highly critical of the Government’s “inconsistency” in relation to its eco-town objectives ie are they  to build more houses or primarily to ensure new housing stock is green?

He describes the Government’s zero-carbon claims for eco-towns as “illogical” (as they exclude any consideration of the transport and construction dimension). 

As he succinctly puts it: “The inclusion of transport in the definition of zero-carbon for eco-towns would, of course, probably mean it would be impossible to achieve zero-carbon. So the [government’s] answer appears to be to leave it out”, which he says will “devalue the whole concept of zero-carbon”.

He goes on to say “By the time any eco-towns are actually expected to be underway (2016), all new homes anyway will be expected to be zero-carbon and meet other sustainability requirements of Code Level 6.  In fact the eco-towns draft PPS does not go as far as current policy, since it only requires a minimum of Code Level 4. The suggestion that this represents a clear improvement on business-as-usual is therefore nonsense.”

Mr Sheate saves his greatest condemnation for the Government’s total failure to consider reasonable alternatives to its eco-town agenda.  He says the government “provides no justification for not considering other alternatives.”   

With specific reference to the proposed eco-town in Warwickshire/Worcestershire, bordering the Cotswolds, Mr Sheate says:  “The Middle Quinton Chapter makes some astonishing claims as to why no alternatives.. were considered for that location”.   “…unless eco-towns ban the use of the car, eco-towns will inevitably generate considerable traffic and car-based commuting. To believe otherwise is quite unrealistic.” 

Regarding proposals for a Western Relief Road for Stratford to make Middle Quinton a more ‘sustainable’ option,  Mr Sheate says “such a relief road would in itself generate additional traffic in the long-term.  It is difficult to equate such an approach with PPG 13 which seeks to minimise traffic generation.”

David Bliss, Chairman of BARD said: “The Sheate Report demonstrates that notwithstanding the deeply flawed consultation process at the heart of our Judicial Review, which is focused on the April 2008 “shortlisting” document, almost one year on the Government is again exposed as having made no plausible headway in its eco-town thinking, this time by one of the country’s leading independent experts. 

"In November hundreds of pages of “appraisal” were published by the Government but when analysed it is again a case of the Emperor’s new clothes. It doesn’t stand up to close scrutiny. What an expensive farce this Government’s ‘bright idea’ is turning out to be. Sadly, yet again, it’s the taxpayers who pay the price.”

Download the full report