Eco-town hint dropped

6:08am Friday 6th June 2008

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THE proposed eco-town scheme near Weston-on-the-Green would need substantial amendments in order to go forward, the Government has hinted.

And the Government has moved to defuse local opposition by pledging it would not permit Oxford's Green Belt to be sacrificed for new eco-homes.

But the reassurance came with the message that the Government was now viewing the scheme to build 15,000 homes on the M40/A34 junction as "a strong proposal".

Campaigners against the proposed Weston Otmoor settlement say that the 2,000-acre site put forward by the developer Parkridge is largely farmland.

And they insist that at least a quarter of the land being earmarked for an eco-settlement falls within the Green Belt.

A spokesman for the Department of Communities and Local Government said that the Government would not abandon its earlier promise to protect the Green Belt.

The spokesman said: "This site is a greenfield site, as set out in the consultation document, and the decision to shortlist this location was taken on that basis.

"But as we have made clear throughout, no eco-town will build housing on Green Belt land - and this includes the Weston Otmoor proposal.

"Weston Otmoor is a strong proposal but there are challenges that developers need to address, as with all locations on the shortlist. No decisions have been taken on the bids that will go forward and only the best ones with the highest environmental standards will be in with a chance of making the final shortlist."

He added: "We desperately need more homes in this country for our young families and first-time buyers, and eco-towns are a unique opportunity to provide more affordable housing where it is needed, while pioneering new green ways of living that will act as a showcase for new development everywhere."

The three-month consultation on preliminary views on 'eco-town' benefits and shortlisted locations ends at the end of this month.

Developer Parkridge already controls 1,600 acres of the site through options to buy farmland from a consortium of landowners. It has also held talks to acquire the remaining 325 acres - the Weston-on-the-Green airfield - from the Ministry of Defence.

The Government comments leave open the option of Green Belt land within the site remaining open for recreation and park land.

Tony Henman, of the Weston Front group, created to oppose the scheme, said he found the Government's comments to be "ambivalent".

He said: "I think they are encouraging in some ways. But we cannot trust the Government. They seem to be making it up as they go along. When they are confronted with a problem they try to engineer their way around it.

"We estimate that between 25 and 30 per cent of the site is in the Green Belt and the rest is greenfield."

The leader of Oxfordshire County Council, Keith Mitchell, has written to Housing and Planning Minister Caroline Flint listing "elementary mistakes" in the Government's assessment of the site.

Mr Mitchell expressed amazement in the letter that the Government classified the site as brownfield.

He wrote: "The vast majority of the site is farmland. About 16 per cent is Weston-on-the-Green airfield, but virtually all that is grass.

"If arguments are being based upon factual inaccuracy, then that lends credence to my belief that a lot of the mathematics that has been done around the much-needed infrastructure will also be full of holes.

"This whole rushed proposal seems to be quickly gaining a distinct air of superficiality."

Meanwhile, the wildlife group BBOWT this week launched its own campaign to stop Weston Otmoor from going ahead.

BBOWT said the settlement would threaten its Woodsides Meadow Nature Reserve, a nationally important wildlife site and a complex of traditional hay meadows called Wendlebury Meads and Mansmoor Closes.

Matthew Jackson, head of policy and planning at BBOWT, said: "BBOWT works hard to protect and nurture the wildlife that does manage to survive and will not stand by and watch such a rare and wonderful slice of countryside be wantonly damaged by this proposal."