Eco Towns Get Green Light from British Government

The British government has granted permission for four ‘eco towns’, with six more planned by Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The government claims that it is playing a leading role in promoting carbon neutral communities, but the projects have met with criticism from people who question how sustainable they really are.

From Yahoo News:

“The revolutionary concept of eco towns is a unique opportunity for us to confront two of the most urgent priorities” facing Britain, namely providing more cheaper housing and fighting climate change.

Housing Minister John Healey added: “We are leading the way on the world stage with these developments by radically rethinking how we design, plan and build our homes.”

The towns chosen are in Whitehill-Bordon in Hampshire; Rackheath in Norfolk; Bicester in Oxfordshire, and a development near St. Austell in Cornwall.

The main opposition Conservatives, which hopes to oust Brown’s Labour government next year, have slammed the projects.

“Underneath the thick layers of greenwash, many of these schemes are unsustainable, unviable and unpopular, but Gordon Brown wants to impose them… irrespective of local opinion,” said Conservative housing spokesman Grant Shapps.

The complaints against such eco settlements usually center around the un-greenness of plopping a housing community onto green fields – a valid point, but then, the same people have no qualms with unsustainable housing like apartment complexes going up on what used to be natural spaces.

These eco communities have a far smaller carbon footprint than conventional housing – they include charging points for electric cars, solar and wind power infrastructure, smart meters to track energy use and dedicate 40% of their land to parks, playgrounds and gardens.

Sure, urban living in vertical communities is greener in most cases, but we’ve got a lot of people on this planet and they all have to live somewhere. Putting them in eco-friendly towns is certainly a better option than continuing suburban sprawl in its current form.

Link [Yahoo News]
Photo credit: bdonline

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