Date published: 2008/02/03
The BBC says:
Protesters gathered near the site of a proposed eco-town planned for a former Army camp.
The scheme, for 6,000 new homes at Long Marston, Warwickshire, is one of 50 similar projects across the UK aiming to create carbon-neutral communities.
The government has said it wants at least 10 such towns by 2020.
Protesters argue there has not been enough consultation and say the schemes will be an excuse for building houses in inappropriate places.
Residents from communities near the proposed sites are among those concerned about the impact they might have.
About 200 demonstrators turned up near the proposed site of the Long Marston eco-town on Sunday, carrying placards opposing the site.
Gee whiz, a whole 200 demonstrators. Obviously very academic middle class, because the BBC gave them lots of publicity. They are basically just NIMBYs, no more and no less. Of course they are correct in one sense. The "eco" label is just made up. You cannot go by a building site today where there are not placards proclaiming that such and such a company is doing "sustainable" work. And the government likes the marketing spin it can get from pretending that it cares about the environment. (And the next Tory government will be the same, if not worse.) It is crazy to allow a developer or the government just to put the "eco" label on something and pretend that everything else can be ignored. On the other hand, the country does need housing, and these houses have to go somewhere. It would be better if new houses could be integrated better into existing communities, or at very low density in the countryside, rather than just dumped in one big lot in an empty field somewhere. But Britain is hopeless at urban planning.
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