Eco-town fight

6:44am Friday 21st March 2008

Sir - The parish of Weston-on-the-Green has formed a pressure group called "Weston Front" to resist any attempt to site an eco-town adjacent the village.

We are told by Government that any decision will be subject to full public consultation and will go through the existing planning system. Cherwell District Council executive is sceptical and says that "complex large-scale growth proposals are usually guided by autonomous project boards that have little or no local accountability, the council would have little or no influence in the overall delivery".

Tony Baldry, whose help is invaluable, has given "Weston Front" sight of an opposition paper which says that "eco-spin should not be used to push through developments which are not truly environmentally sustainable, or which lack necessary infrastructure, there should be good local support and local council co-operation. Eco-sites should have good infrastructure and be based on brownfield sites with no Green Belt impact".

"Weston Front" will resist any attempt to build an eco-town at Weston-on-the-Green. Any new development next to junction 9 would be non-sustainable and compromise an already over-burdened infrastructure.

Norman Machin, Weston Front