Bicester promised eco-millions (From Bicester Advertiser)

Bicester promised eco-millions

5:19pm Wednesday 9th December 2009

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A NEW eco-town for North West Bicester could attract £20m of Government funding within weeks, it emerged today.

More than 200 people attended a meeting to discuss the proposal to build 5,000 eco-homes on about 850 acres of land between Howes Lane and Lords Lane.

Jonathan Shaw, Minister for the South East, told the summit that a £3.6m improvement scheme, to ease traffic flow at Junction Nine of the M40, would start next spring to prepare for the development, with a further £7m upgrade a likelihood in 2011.

Mr Shaw told the meeting at Bicester Golf and Country Club that North West Bicester would be one of four selected sites to benefit from millions of pounds of Government funding.

He said the Government was about to deliver “the first large-scale, zero carbon communities to be built anywhere in the world”.

He added: “We know that physical infrastructure will be needed.

“That is the reason why the Government has identified a £60m fund to assist with this – and Bicester has bid for a share of this fund.

“Although I can’t give any indication today, I can say that this fund is an important contribution to ensuring that that infrastructure is delivered in a timely and effective manner.” Mr Shaw said that Cherwell District Council, which has submitted a bid for £20m, would learn within weeks exactly how much funding it would be allocated.

He said “thousands” of new jobs could be created by the new eco-town.

He said: “At the moment, 60 per cent of people in Bicester travel out of the town to work.

“We want to create an environment where people can live and work in the same area.”

Barry Wood, leader of Cherwell District Council, said that some landowners had “indicated their willingness” to sell the land needed for the eco-town development.

Oxfordshire County Council leader Keith Mitchell said that his authority had agreed to support the district council’s bid for an eco-town.

Tim Fenn, director of P3Eco Ltd, the consortium planning to build the eco-homes, said a planning application for 200 homes could be submitted as early as spring 2010, with the “master” planning application for 5,000 homes submitted in December 2010.

The first phase of the development could then start in 2011.

Mr Fenn said that the 5,000 homes — a £1.5bn project — would be built over a period of 15 years, depending on the demand for energy-efficient homes.

A previous plan to build a 15,000 eco-home settlement at Weston Otmoor, near Weston-on-the-Green, was rejected following local opposition.

Last night, farmer Rosemary Henson, 69, of Middleton Stoney Road, Bicester, who owns 220 acres of farmland along with her daughter, Catharine Murfitt, said she was opposed to the plan to build an eco-town near Bicester.

She said she was not prepared to sell any land to developers.

She said: “I have no intention of selling at the moment.

“My intention is to leave my land on a trolley and come back in an urn.”

Colin Board, the chairman of Chesterton Parish Council, told the summit: “There are a lot of villages affected by this development and the eco-development will concrete over agricultural land.”

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