Lobby of Parliament over eco-towns

Peter Luff with John Maples and Geoffrey Clifton-Brown.

John Maples, Member of Parliament for Stratford on Avon has written to Caroline Flint MP, Minister for Housing and Planning backing the BARD’s response to the consultation. The campaign against the proposed eco town at the Long Marston site has gained considerable strength over the past few months and it is clear that there is a lack of support for this project which will see 6,000 houses built at the site. Mr Maples said, ”It seems to me impossible to create a self sustaining community from scratch on this site, without it doing irreparable damage to an area of outstanding natural beauty and the people who live in it”.

Mr Maples also attended the lobby of Parliament on Monday 30th June and joined hundreds of campaigners from across the country. They handed in a petition to 10 Downing Street.

Mr Maples added: “The people who live in the area and in the surrounding towns are very worried about the impact this will have on them and their infrastructure, so it is not simply a personal reaction to development close to them. The traffic problems seem overwhelming and would do serious damage to Stratford itself. Even if Eco Towns are a good idea, which I very much doubt, Long Marston is absolutely the wrong place for one.”

Michael Fabricant, Conservative MP for Lichfield

Around 30 eco town protesters from Curborough, Fradley and Lichfield joined protesters from other proposed eco town locations at a rally at Parliament on Monday 30th June. The protesters first assembled at 11.30am at Abingdon Green opposite the House of Lords and then, at 1pm, attended a Meeting of all eco-town protesters in a Committee Room of the House of Commons. Just under 300 protesters packed the seats and sat in the aisles of Committee Room 14. A petition was then handed in to 10 Downing Street and later two representatives from FACT (Fradley Against Curborough Town) met Housing Minister, Caroline Flint.

“If Caroline Flint had any doubt about the strength of feeling against her proposed locations for eco-towns, she won’t have now” says Michael Fabricant. “In the packed Committee Room, Shadow Housing Minister Grant Shapps told the audience that we do need extra homes and more affordable housing. But the Government’s eco towns are environmentally unfriendly and he said that it should be local elected people who decide where housing developments should be constructed not an ever centralising Government. I explained to the meeting that Lichfield District Council has made a formal complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority against the Department of Communities and Local Government for making factual mistakes in an advertisement promoting the Curborough Development and that the Government’s own eco-town Panel had criticised the Curborough proposals for being eco-unfriendly and just a rehash of previous planning applications. The audience were united in opposing these developments.

“The Government claims it is consulting. It is time they react and announce that the Curborough development will not proceed” adds Michael. “We do not have the infrastructure or road capacity to support such a huge development on the outskirts of Lichfield.”