Plans for eco-town jobs shot down by minister
Apr 4 2008 by William Green, The Journal
NEW eco-towns in the North East were yesterday rejected after the Government appeared to admit the creaking transport network might struggle with additional pressures.
Housing Minister Caroline Flint sparked renewed calls to upgrade the region’s road and public transport system after confirming transport was a factor in rejecting developments in the region.
Officials investigated if transport links within eco-towns and to other areas could cope or needed enhancement.
Eco-towns in Causey Park on the Gateshead-County Durham border, Cambois in Northumberland and Stockton have been rejected.
Developers claim they would have been thriving, environmentally friendly communities with thousands of new jobs and homes. Road, rail and bus improvements were planned.
Challenged on rejection of the North East schemes, Ms Flint said she had been looking for “show-stopper” schemes.
The minister said transport was an “issue” in all schemes, adding: “It is one of the areas that we have been interrogating incredibly tightly. But I would say this, it is also about the other issues about what is needed in the area.”
The minister said there was “considerable” regeneration cash rebuilding existing communities in the region, and it was vital not to detract from them.
One of her Whitehall officials said transport was a “major issue” but insisted good ideas from schemes could re-emerge in a smaller scale under the Government’s “growth point” programme, where councils are helped to build more homes.
But yesterday’s decision means a Gordon Brown pledge of eco-towns for every part of the UK was broken, with the North East losing to 15 sites elsewhere in the country.
Sharon Hodgson, MP for Gateshead East and Washington West, said: “If they are saying already that transport links are a negative for us in the North East, that in my opinion just adds even more weight to our argument that something needs to be done in the North East.”
Nic Best, from the regional Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), said all new houses should be built in an environmentally friendly way. But the Cambois proposal was an “opportunity missed” and would have improved rail connections, he said.
Dr Best added: “If Government is not prepared to invest in public transport networks in the same way as in the South East, then they cannot blame us for not having the transport infrastructure to support eco-towns.”
But the CPRE had concerns about the Causey Park plan due to the area’s landscape value. Dr Best said the proposals were a “rehash” of an old application, although developer UK Coal said it would have provided major benefits.
The Department for Communities and Local Government later said transport was part of a “package of factors” in deciding if sites were shortlisted. It added reasons for rejecting individual sites would not be made public, although applicants would get feedback.
