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10 July 2009: Norwich Evening News Eco-town decision imminent by Kim Briscoe A decision on whether to forge ahead with plans for an eco-town in Rackheath is expected in the next two weeks. The news that the current limbo will soon come to an end has been welcomed by both council chiefs backing the scheme and local residents keen to learn the fate of the Broadland village. In the House of Commons this week, housing minister John Healey said he would make an announcement before the summer recess on sites "with the potential to become an eco-town". The proposals for at least 3,400 news homes in the Rackheath area, replaced Coltishall as one of 12 short-listed eco-developments across the UK. Last year the Rackheath proposals were named as the government's most favoured eco-town plan. John Long, vice chairman of Rackheath Parish Council, said: “I'm delighted to hear this. The sooner we know, the better because it will put some of the uncertainty behind us. “Our job as a council is to cope with and get the best possible outcome for residents of Rackheath, whatever this decision, because it is being taken at a higher level than us. “We have a strong desire to be able, whatever the decision is and whatever development we may get, to ensure that it fits in and we can create a decent community out of it.” The plans are being backed by the Greater Norwich Development Partnership, which includes South Norfolk, Norfolk County, Norwich City and Broadland District Councils. Simon Woodbridge, leader of Broadland District Council, welcomed the news that an announcement was days away. He said new houses were desperately needed in Norfolk, and Broadland alone had 3,500 people waiting for social housing. Mr Woodbridge said: “We have still got far too much homelessness and there are still difficulties in the housing market. House building is something we have got to address and this is just a superb opportunity to deliver housing that's to such a high environmental standard and there's money and assistance being put on the table from the government to help deliver it.” This week Tory shadow housing minister Grant Shapps claimed the "small print" of the Government's draft legislative programme, published last week, revealed that plans for eco-towns had now been "pushed back to 2020". He labelled the eco-town programme a “shambles”, said developers were “running scared” and called for the government to scrap the “unpopular” scheme. |
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