Plans for eco-towns could be challenged in Europe

Plans for eco-towns could be thrown out under European law, according to a damning new report that describes Government strategy on the troubled project as "exceptionally poor".

By Louise Gray, Environment Correspondent Last Updated: 7:57PM GMT 09 Jan 2009

William Sheate, an expert in environmental assessment at Imperial College London, was commissioned to look at the draft planning policy statement on the 15 shortlisted sites.
Up to ten of the controversial developments, which are designed to be environmentally-friendly, will get the go-ahead, but Mr Sheate said the strategic environmental assessment, which is part of the planning process, fails to comply with European rules.
Mr Sheate, who is also an expert adviser to the European Commision, said this is because not enough alternatives were considered to the sites or how the eco-towns will be developed.
He also said many of the arguments are illogical. For example, the Government's "zero-carbon" claims for eco-towns excludes any consideration of the carbon dioxide produced by the expected increase in transport.
Mr Sheate said the environmental assessment as it currently stands is "exceptionally poor".
"As currently proposed the eco-towns policy potentially conflicts with European law on the environmental assessment," he said.
The report is just the latest in a number of problems for the eco-towns, which have seen developers and sponsors pull out, and criticism by environmental groups, planning authorities and big names including Dame Judi Dench and Tim Henman's family.
The housing minister Margaret Beckett is due to make a decision on the final shortlist later this year but sources say only 'one or two' of the 15 shortlisted projects are genuinely viable.
Protests have been ongoing and at the moment the Government is awaiting a judicial review of the policy.
However a spokesman for the Department of Communities and Local Government insisted that the Government has acted correctly throughout the process.