Doubts cast over eco town

The prospects of one of the shortlisted eco town candidate sites finding itself among the ten finally chosen appear to have received a serious setback.

Officials from Broadland district council and Norfolk county council believe it may cost as much as £200 million to provide the necessary transport links to serve the proposed Coltishall eco town, which would be sited on the disused RAF base, the Norwich Evening News reports.

Strategic director and chief planner at Broadland council, Steve Kirkby, said: "The site is very poorly related for sustainable access to existing job opportunities, which are principally in or close to Norwich," adding that he did not think the site was large enough to support the 10,000 homes proposed.

The comments from the councils came as part of a public consultation on the site which will last until the end of June.

Should the proposals be defeated, this will dent the hopes of those living in the area being able to live in an eco home.

One way round such a problem would be to self build an eco home or renovate an existing one with green features.

The Ford eco town proposal in West Sussex has also come under pressure from a campaigner claiming massive transport investment will be required.

Local opponent of the scheme Terry Knott has claimed between £200 and £500 million will be needed to provide the necessary infrastructure upgrades, the Bognor Regis Observer reports.


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