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No spells 'no' for eco-town
8:25am Monday 23rd June 2008
PROTESTERS opposed to plans to build an eco-town near Weston-on-the-Green spelled out the word 'No' in human form in a bid to make their opinions heard yesterday.
More than 500 people gathered at Weston-on-the-Green playing fields to hammer home their opposition to plans to build 15,000 new homes on land close to the A34/M40 junction near Bicester.
Among them was tennis star Tim Henman's father, Anthony, who lives in the village and who has emerged as one of the key figures in campaign group Weston Front.
Mr Henman said: "We are protesting against the possibility of developers building a new town on our doorstep."It has garnered so much opposition because it is a manifestly bad idea.
"We are not against new housing, we are not against new estates and we are not against affordable housing, but they have got to be in the right place with the right infrastructure."
However, a handful of people in favour of the scheme also turned up.
The Weston Otmoor scheme is one of 15 proposed eco-towns currently being considered by the Government.
Other eco towns are planned in Bordon, Hampshire, Rossington near Doncaster, Ford in West Sussex and Curborough in Staffordshire.
Consultation on the Weston Otmoor scheme ends at the end of the month -and protesters want to leave the Government in no doubt as to their feelings.
But they are unlikely to have things all their own way - especially as the Government will have the final say.
Earlier this month the Government's housing minister Caroline Flint said: "Housing demand has outstrippped supply and irrespective of short term market conditions, this has pushed prices far beyond the reach of many people.
"But do we need more houses round here? The answer is clearly yes.
"Not only are there around 3,400 families on a waiting list for affordable housing in Cherwell - there are almost 4,000 in Oxford. This eco-town would provide between 3,000 and 5,000 new affordable homes."
Banbury MP Tony Baldry said: "Apart from the developers, the Government minister and one or two civil servants, I have not found a single supporter of this eco-town proposal."This would be a suburban nightmare, a remote, unsustainable car-dependent housing estate built against the opposition of local people and doomed to become one of the slums of tomorrow."
Your Say YourOxford
D R, WOTG says...
3:09pm Mon 23 Jun 08
If it was joined on to Oxford's infrastructure it might indeed be a good idea, bit it isn't. It just has a railway that can take a very small proportion of the 35,000 residents to Oxford station. Not may jobs at Oxford station, so the rest will drive. That is why environmentalists and town planners are calling for eco-suburbs on existing towns, not high density housing estates dependent on commuting, with meagre local facilities in fields disconnected from any existing community. That is why even the eco town advisors to the government have expressed concerns that the young people there will have little to do but turn to drink and drugs.
Housing in Bicester is already cheaper than the national average, so if you want to live in Bicester it is fairly affordable already, and already connected by rail to Oxford. It is a bit odd to build near cheap Bicester to solve a housing problem in expensive Oxford.
Oxfordshire County Council has plans for additional housing in Oxford, to exploit exactly the features you list, and in Didcot and Bicester to help provide the sort of facilities the residents there want. Weston Otmoor would destroy carefully considered local housing plans backed by the South East Regional Assembly, Oxfordshire and Cherwell Councils. There is no need for central government to rush through such a badly-planned scheme.
Please also read the actual proposals by the developers, and look at the Government announcement last week that the houses would no longer need to be "eco". Look at the plan to charge residents if they use their cars and consider how 35,000 residents might fit onto the suggested alternative of trains at rush hour.
I think any suffering of the existing villagers of Weston on the Green will be nothing compared to the misery of the poor people who are forced to live in the Weston Otmoor ghetto. I really hope, Paul, that you don't end up having to live there. It is not eco, just a high density housing estate for poor people, keeping them away from the community and facilities of Oxford.
Kevan Barnhill, Weston On The Green says...
8:04pm Mon 23 Jun 08
o, not even their own experts think the Parkridge scheme is no more than a money-spinning scam! The report goes on to slate the developers for their complete disregard for all things 'green' or 'eco'. That kinda wraps it up for 'sustainable' doesn't it?
DanOxford, says...
9:57pm Mon 23 Jun 08
All this land will be lost due to population increase fuelled by immigration- directly and by the higher birth rates amongst immigrants.
If you want to concrete over England so that foreigners can have a better life, so be it- but thes etowns are not for teh environment and they will not help the housing problems amongst young British people while most of the population increase is down to immigration.
2.3 million immigrants come to UK in 16 years
June 2, 2008
New Government figures have confirmed just how large has been the scale of immigration into the UK in recent years and show that that the vast majority who come to stay are from the third world.
An analysis of the latest immigration statistics from the Office of National Statistics by think-tank Migrationwatch shows that in the years 1991 2006 there was a net movement of some 2.3 million people to the UK - only 8% of which came from the new East European members of the EU.
www.migrationwatch.c
om
The Man., Stuck on The A34 says...
9:24pm Wed 25 Jun 08
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Paul, Oxford says...
2:25pm Mon 23 Jun 08
Yet Oxford is an ideal place, it has the right Green thinking, it has a jobs, it has rail links to London, it has a cycle track system (well almost) and one of the most comprehenisive (if expensive) park and ride schemes in the country.
I'm for the town. I want to say yes to the developers because I want to live in a town that is built with the future in mind, not the past, not the interests of those rich enough to live in nice houses near the preposed site, but in a sustianable alternative to inner city "in-building".