Eco towns’ CO2 warning

Feb 18 2008 by Adrian Pearson, The Journal

RURAL campaigners have warned that eco-towns planned for Gateshead and Northumberland must not be just “a smokescreen to pave over the countryside”.

As Government housing bosses consider a plan to build 6,500 environmentally friendly homes in Gateshead and a further 5,000 for Blyth, concerns have been raised that the new developments could do more harm then good.

The Campaign to Protect Rural England wants government planners to take a cautious approach when they consider where to place 10 new eco-towns.

Last year Gordon Brown said every region in the UK will get at least one new town, and the CPRE believes two North East proposals stand a good chance of being selected.

UK Coal wants to build the Gateshead eco-town at the former Marley Hill colliery site, in the village of Byermoor.

The company says the scheme would bring in some 2,500 jobs. CPRE has offered conditional support to the scheme, but warned that if they are not planned right they could end up being worse for the environment.

It is concerned the sites could add to carbon emissions if they are built in remote parts of the countryside, leaving residents with little option but to use their car for more journeys.

Nic Best, regional policy officer for the CPRE, said: “This is one of the more scenic places near the urban parts of Gateshead and it would be a great shame to lose that, so we are hoping that if the UK Coal bid goes ahead it is built in keeping with the local landscape.

“It is a relatively remote site and does need better links, and one of our biggest concerns is that this sustainable community would fail if it cannot be linked into towns. It makes a mockery of the whole thing to build these eco-towns only to force people into their cars because they cannot get to the cities and towns that people visit.”

UK Coal has had a previous bid for an open cast mine on the site turned down.

A spokesman for the company said if the eco-town got the go ahead it would rule out any surface mining.

A Government spokesman said a decision was expected next month, and the detailed planning would then begin.