Buy to let investors and residential landlords planning to purchase property in one of the government’s planned eco-towns may have to wait a while longer.
The Local Government Association (LGA) is considering a legal challenge to the 10 new towns on the grounds that they bypass normal planning procedures.
The possible legal action by the LGA comes on the back of a scaling down in the number of proposed eco-towns, the Conservative Party no longer supporting the idea, and claims that the Government is making even more concessions to try and garner support for the developments.
Brian Berry, Director of External Affairs at the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) said: “News today that the LGA is considering a legal challenge to the Governments eco-town proposals should really cause Gordon Brown and Caroline Flint to sit up and think.
“Is the Government really planning to bypass normal planning procedures to force eco-towns on communities that do not want them and have had no say in their creation? This is hardly the way to go about building sustainable communities.
“Eco-towns sound lovely but are really a red herring to give the Government's housing plans a stamp of green credibility. The truth is we already know how to create sustainable homes as demonstrated by the BedZed affordable eco-homes in south London and the renewable energy theme park developed by Kiklees Borough Council in Yorkshire.
“Building brand new eco-towns outside existing settlements in the teeth of local opposition is a really bad idea particularly when there are 675,000 homes in England alone sitting empty, all ripe for refitting with green technologies. Given that demand for housing covers the whole of the UK it makes sense for every village and town to have new housing rather creating brand new settlements.
“If the Government is really serious about sustainable settlements the better solution would be to develop a patchwork of hundreds of smaller eco-projects, with contracts awarded by local regions for both new homes and refurbishment of old buildings with green measures spread across arrange of proven technologies. Now that really would be a revolution in turning Britain into a more sustainable place to live but the Government seems to think it always know best!”
