Government pledges £20m to eco-town 'within weeks' (From The Oxford Times)

Government pledges £20m to eco-town 'within weeks'

7:48pm Wednesday 9th December 2009

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A NEW eco-town for north-west Bicester could attract £20m of Government funding within weeks.

More than 200 people attended a meeting yesterday to discuss the plans to build 5,000 eco-homes on about 850 acres of land between Howes Lane and Lords Lane.

Jonathan Shaw, Minister for the South East, said a £3.6m improvement scheme to ease traffic flow at the A34/ M40 junction would start in the spring to prepare for the development, with a further £7m upgrade likely in 2011.

Mr Shaw told the meeting at Bicester Country Club that north-west Bicester would be one of four selected sites to benefit from millions in Government funding.

He said the Government was about to deliver “the first large-scale, zero-carbon communities to be built anywhere in the world” and added: “We know that physical infrastructure will be needed.

“That is the reason why the Government has identified a £60m fund to assist with this, and Bicester has bid for a share of this fund.

“Although I can’t give any indication today, I can say that this fund is an important contribution to ensuring that infrastructure is delivered in an effective manner.”

Mr Shaw added that Cherwell District Council, which has submitted the bid for £20m, would learn within weeks exactly how much it would get.

He said thousands of jobs could be created by the eco-town and added: “At the moment, 60 per cent of people in Bicester travel out of the town to work.”

Oxfordshire County Council leader Keith Mitchell said: “Any news about improvements at junction nine of the M40 is to be welcomed. However, we always seek assurances that there are commitments to solid, longer-term improvement plans as opposed to just interim work, and that this work is not totally dependent on the progression of the eco-town at Bicester.”

Barry Wood, leader of Cherwell District Council, said some landowners had “indicated their willingness” to sell land needed for the eco-town development.

But last night farmer Rosemary Henson, 69, of Middleton Stoney Road, Bicester, who owns 220 acres of farmland with her daughter Catharine Murfitt, said: “I have no intention of selling at the moment – my intention is to leave the place on a trolley and come back in an urn.”

Tim Fenn, director of P3Eco Ltd, the consortium planning to build the eco-homes, said a planning application for 200 homes could be submitted as early as the spring, with the “master” planning application for 5,000 homes submitted in December 2010.

The first phase of the development could start in 2011.

Mr Fenn said the 5,000 homes – a £1.5bn project – would be built over 15 years, depending on the demand for energy-efficient homes.

Colin Board, the chairman of Chesterton Parish Council, told the summit: “There are a lot of villages affected by this development and the eco-development will concrete over agricultural land.”

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