Britain’s Eco-Towns could damage the environment
The first four proposed Eco-Towns have received permission to progress to the planning stage of their development. As can be seen by artists’ rendering of the proposed Eco-town in Clay Country, the towns have a bucolic feel. Although these towns will utilize a number of green initiatives like providing for green spaces and waste water reuse, detractors of the developments claim that the housing won’t be green enough and that local wildlife may suffer.
According to The Telegraph the four settlements will be built on: a former RAF base near Norwich; on the site of old army barracks in East Hampshire; near Bicester in Oxfordshire; and “on the site of an old china clay mine near St. Austell in Cornwall.” Three of the sites are essentially rehabilitating now defunct areas like the RAF base, the old army barracks and the clay mine.
The towns will have 40 percent green space. Schools will be within walking distance, and less than 50 percent of travel within the town will be by car since bicycle paths will be plentiful. For those with a longer commute, each house will have a system that will alert the residents of the arrival of the next bus.
The homes themselves are expected to utilize such green technology as solar hot water, windmills, woodchip boilers and food scrap incineration for power. The homes will use gray water for lawns and gardens and will generate heat from sewage.
And finally, the “Eco-towns will also have to achieve zero-carbon status across the entire development, which includes shops, offices and schools as well as housing,” according to the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG).
What’s wrong with that?
Well, where to start. Detractors lament the expenditure of millions of pounds for settlements that will only house a total of about 20,000 homes. Although at least one third of those homes will be low-income housing, the developments don’t really provide green housing solutions for that many people.
Secondly, the houses in the developments can be built to a lower level of sustainability than other houses that will be built around the same time. These developments are expected to be finished in 2016. Ironically, the homes in the Eco-towns could be less environmentally correct than homes built in other parts of the Country.
Along with the small sizes and large price tags, there is also the issue of damage to the local environments. For instance, the Eco-Town planned for East Hampshire will impact important wildlife areas. The development planned near Bicester may actually be built in a flood zone and may pose a problem with the sewage system. The Norwich Eco-town could mean more congestion while the fourth development in Cornwall will need transportation hubs built. All of the new Eco-towns will need to have new infrastructure and roads that will also impact the areas in which they are built.
The Eco-towns even taking into account the concerns of detractors are a much better choice than the typical new development. Most new housing and commercial development take the environment into account only as an after thought or secondary concern. These new developments are planned with the environment as an integral part of the community.
If these four planned Eco-towns make it through the regulatory and permit gauntlet, another six may be built. As mentioned earlier, the first four have just hit the planning stage. The current concerns can be weighed and modifications made to accommodate and rectify any perceived problems.
England is a land of history, ancient castles, and traditions. Adding a modern Eco-town or two will only create environmentally sound communities for future generations.
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