CyberSoapbox

The Government recently published a long-list of 15 potential eco-town sites for consultation until the end of June. The list includes a site in South Cambridgeshire, Hanley Grange, which - says Alex Plant, Chief Executive of Cambridgeshire Horizons - would be one eco-town too many.

Hanley Grange is a proposed 8000 home settlement located near to the village of Hinxton and bounded by the A11, A505 and A1301. The site's promoters, Jarrow Investments, identify its potential for good access to the existing road and rail network, the need for affordable housing in an area of shortage, and the opportunity to improve the area's employment potential. The idea is that eco-towns will be new settlements, must be additional to existing plans, of at least 5000 homes and the dwellings will meet zero-carbon standards.

Cambridgeshire Horizons and all our local authority partners vigorously oppose this proposal. We are already delivering one of the most challenging housing growth agendas in the UK, and seeking to ensure that the new town of Northstowe, the largest since Milton Keynes, achieves the very highest quality and sustainability standards, as it is supposed to the prototype for all eco-towns to follow.

The proposals for Hanley Grange, which is sited in the same planning authority (South Cambridgeshire) as Northstowe, could undermine our collective ability to deliver housing numbers and quality. There are also major concerns about the viability of Hanley Grange, given its remote location, likely dependence on the private car for transport, and relative isolation from main employment sites.

The Government's twin policy objectives for eco-towns are to deliver additional housing numbers to meet identified need, and to demonstrate how growth can be delivered in environmentally sustainable ways.

However, both these aims would be frustrated by Hanley Grange....

Alex Plant
Chief Executive

Cambridgeshire Horizons

Recent Cybersoapbox entries:

Congestion charging for Cambridge? Cambridge Network seeks your views ...!

Cybersoapbox is your chance to rant, rave, preach or pontificate!

Have you had enough of bureaucracy? Perhaps you're fed up with sitting in traffic queues? Or you've just read an article that's made your blood boil?

Maybe you even have a good idea about how to solve some of the problems we face in the Cambridge area?

Here's a chance for Cambridge Network members to rant, rave, preach or pontificate! Cybersoapbox is your opportunity to make your views known, let off steam or promote your brilliant ideas! Email ranter@cambridgenetwork.co.uk

All material is posted at the editor's discretion. Correspondents must supply name, address and email address.