Housebuilders look to raise cash

Two of the UK's largest housebuilders have announced plans to bolster their finances by raising cash through selling more shares. Barratt Developments wants to raise £720.5m through a rights issue, while Redrow is aiming for £150m. Click here for more...

I took note of this sentence, 'Mr Clare added that the cash from the rights issue would also be used to develop a number of existing sites and to buy land if opportunities arose'.

Friday September 4th - Yapton & Ford Village Hall

Unfortunately its not my Scarecrowday... But you are invited to a gathering at Yapton & Ford Village Hall where there will be a few speeches, some music and a chance wind down after the last 18 months... The format is bring a bottle and glass - there may be nibbles... We start at 6.30 - hope to see you there...

Have a great August... Mr G and the team...

Make every town an eco-town

Jonathan Glancey architecture critic for the Guardian... There’s no point bulding tokenistic, half-baked fake communities for New Labour clones while we’re still wedded to motorways, airports and superstores. Read more here...

Words of Thanks...

Dear Susan,
 
Yes, a great day indeed! I'm only sorry I could not be more active myself. Too busy here in Brighton, I'm afraid, but you've been fortunate having Ben Fogle campaigning with you, such is his high public profile. I always like reading his column in the newspaper.
 

Michael Bishop

----

Well done to the organising team WE couldn't have done it without YOU !!

Gigi

----

Hi Susan

Just to congratulate you and everyone concerned with the campaign which was
fought with such wonderful tenacity and eloquence.  Thank you for all the
hard work and commitment which was without equal.

I'm sure that another planning application will be waiting in the wings but
that is another day, another dollar.


Regards

Mary Rivett

----

Hi Susan,
Yes absolutely fantastic news!!
Well done to you Vicky and all the team -we certainly could not done it without an organised CAFE. Let the voice of the people be heard-and eventually it was.(Including Parliament square!!!) Kind regards and well done to all the team,
Cynthia

----

Hi Susan.
Well done to you and the team. Democracy rules (at least I hope
so).

Thanks again for all your effort. There should be many people who are
grateful to you all.

Kind regards


Neil

Yes what good new re decision on Eco Town and mainly to all Cafe's hard work and time given to the protest.  It is much appreciated. 
Thank you all.
B & D Wilgoss Climping

----

Great news - well done! We just moved here from the congestion of Kingston
on Thames, to escape to the country, let's keep it a rural paradise.

Regards
Jane and Chris Weymouth

----

Congratulations - an enormous relief.

 Thank you for all your hard work, organisational skills and persistence in
the face of government obtuseness!


With best wishes

Quentin Daniel

----

Well done and thank YOU!
 

Katherine
 

----


Many congratulations Delighted with the result which is of course the 
correct one!


Christine and Stephen Brocklebank
----

Thank you all for your efforts!  We look forward to the party!

-----

Hi to all the Cafe team and many, many, many thanks for your hard work and the eloquent way you were able to put our case forward. I cannot begin to imagine how much time this has taken for all of you - your well researched arguments were certainly very important - as were the protests you organised. We owe you a large debt of gratitude. I just wanted to let you know your efforts have been very much appreciated - thank you for saving our way of life.
Regards
Jan Crockett
----

Huge congratulations to you all. We consider ourselves very lucky to have 
had such a dedicated and knowledgeable committee to lead us and spur us on 
at any sign of flagging....you did a brilliant job and we are very grateful
. Best wishes
Jocelyne and Clive Newman

----

Well done everybody - what a result!
 Many thanks for keeping me posted
Jan Moore

----

It is a terrific result and says huge amounts for the power of local people
 when they organise and work together.  Congratulations especially to Vicky 
(and Terry Knott before her) for leading such a team and to Susan and all 
the people who quietly kept the communication going and shouldered a lot of
 the unseen work.


Nancy Brinton

----

CONGRATULATIONS  to you all and thank you for all your hard work.


Peter and Sue Trumble, Yapton.

----

Nice one Susan,
 And thank you for all YOUR hard work, when you could have been forgiven for concentrating upon finding gainful employment! 
And a big thanks to Brian too.
 Great job both of you!
 As ever,

Terry

 Terence Phayre KNOTT MC FRSM

----

Well done all of you who worked so hard,we owe you a large debt of
gratitude. Thank you. A very relieved resident of Yapton
Laurie Slater

----

Delighted to hear the good news.  I read the Ben Fogle article also today,
which waas very good.  I had feared that the govt juggernaut would win.

 Well done, and very best wishes


Anne

Dear all at CAFE
Fantastic news today !! 
Congratulations to all of you for the strenuous, informed and wonderful effort you all made to achieve this great success. We are very thrilled ... for ourselves and for all of you. Marvellous !!! Best regards
Derek and Jacquie Whitby 

Congratulations,all your hard work has paid off.
From Reginald Barrett and 
Sheila Holub

----

Brilliant result!!

----
 
We would like to congratulate the campaign team . If you had not been there , we are sure the result would have been very different. We really appreciate all your hard work and expertise.
 
Thank you all very much.
Dave and Jeanette Underwood   

----

Dear Vicky
We are so pleased at the decision to abandon this misguided development.
You have done so much hard work and the organisation of the whole campaign was textbook stuff.
A sincere thank you from us and hundreds of others who will also be breathing a sigh of relief.

Best wishes
Christine and Ian Llewellyn

-----

We wanted to send an immediate and hearfelt 'HUGE THANK YOU' to all of you who have worked so hard on this campaign which has resulted in yesterday's good news.
 
We believe all the effort has made a difference - and hope and trust this really is the end of the matter for Ford.  We shall no doubt have to continue to be on our guard!
 
regards and best wishes
Michael and Judy Simmonds

-----

Congratulations on all your hard work - wonderful result and everybody concerned should be proud of what they have achieved!
 sally godfrey

-----

Hello Vicky and All,
Many congratulations and thanks for all your hard work in defeating the Ford Eco-town proposals. However, FAVG's reaction (that they will continue to try to build on Ford) means that we cannot relax our vigilance. Nevertheless, you have defined the criteria that they will have to meet before any building can be contemplated.

Regards,
Ray Penny

-----

To Vicky Newman and all the CAFE committee (including Terry Knott!)
I'm sure that this will be only one of hundreds of communications of congratulation you will be receiving. The whole locality owes you a huge debt of gratitude for your unstinting effort over the last 18 months to preserve the heritage of our three villages. You must take great satisfaction from the news today that the Ford site is not included in the four nominated by this government. Both MP's have quite rightly given the CAFE group great credit, both in the House of Commons and on TV/radio and we as a community can only echo this! Enjoy all the plaudits and the champagne - they are richly deserved!!

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for working so hard on our behalf -
Margaret

Dear Susan,

Congratulations on your leadership of this important campaign. For your
interest, attached a copy of my letter, sent today.
Best wishes,

Tim Simpson

More to come...

A Great Day!

Now I can walk my dog through our lovely countryside without having to be constantly thinking to myself "Will this all be going under concrete soon?"

I would also like to offer my thanks and great appreciation to the CAFE team, who have given so much of their time, effort and expertise to make this day possible. I'm sure that all local residents will join me in wishing a thousand blessings on you all!

Now I'm going dog-walking with a lighter heart, then come home and pop a bottle of something fizzy.

Hooyah!!

News and reaction...

Worthing Herald
THE Government's decision to leave Ford off the final shortlist of Eco-Towns has been hailed as a "victory for people power" by Arundel and South Downs MP Nick Herbert. More here...

Littlehampton Gazette
FORD has been left out of the Government's list of Eco-Towns, announced today. Housing Minister John Healey named four sites which he said had passed the Government's tough standards to go through to the next planning phase, full public consultation and local planning approval. More here...

Littlehampton Gazette
ARUN District Council is "delighted" that Ford eco-town will not go ahead. Councillor Graham Tyler was chairman of a select committee established by Arun to look in to bid, which found that Ford was not a suitable location for an eco-town; a decision that was endorsed the full council. More here...

www.clickgreen.org.uk
The Government has today given the green light for four eco-towns, despite strong opposition to the controversial plans. The plans have come in for strong criticism from people who oppose taking the planning process out of the scope of local authorities and the potential reduction in nearby countryside to make way for thousands of new homes. More here...

Telegraph
For a greener Britain, we should build jails, not eco-towns
I know who I'd like to stick in one!

Times Online
Eco towns get green light despite local opposition
&
Analysis: eco towns may not be very green

The Gaurdian
Ecotowns given the go-ahead

Country Life
Government names four eco-town sites

Christian Science Monitor
Britain’s ecotown program runs into NIMBY

We did it!!!

http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/planningandbuilding/pdf/pps-ecotowns.pdf

Have read it through very, very quickly and there is no mention I can spot of a 'B list' attached to the Planning Policy Statement. Just Appendix A with the four sites.

I think we can chalk this up as a victory for local protests, marches, meetings, dropping leaflets round in the rain, putting all that effort in to countermand the developers' claims and the government spin.

Well done to everyone involved.

Ford Eco Town abandoned!

Rackheath, Norfolk; north west Bicester, Oxfordshire; Whitehill Bordon, East Hants; and the China Clay Community near St Austell, Cornwall are the only Eco Towns to be built out of a shortlist of 15.

Ford is not on the list - more to come...

Locations of eco-towns to be named

The Government is due to announce the locations of a series of environmentally-friendly new towns, with just a few of the shortlisted "eco-town" sites expected to get the go-ahead.

The once-flagship project was intended to meet housing needs and tackle climate change, with as many as 10 settlements built by 2020.

But the scheme has been dogged by controversy and opposition from the Tories, countryside campaigners and local communities, with opponents mounting legal challenges to the selection process. Read more here...

Eco town plan 'to be scaled down'

The government is expected to announce a scaled-down version of its grand plan to create up to 10 "eco towns".

Gordon Brown set out in 2007 to create hundreds of thousands of homes in "carbon neutral" communities as he campaigned to succeed Tony Blair. Read more here...

£13,000 to park in an Eco Town

Drivers who want to live in an environmentally friendly "eco-town" will have to pay £13,000 for a parking space, Government documents reveal. The news comes as ministers prepare to unveil the sites for the first ever eco-towns.

Four sites in southern and central England which have received backing from their local councils are likely to go ahead to the planning stage - less than half the 10 eco-towns which were first mooted by Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, nearly two years ago. Click for more...

Sites of first eco-towns to be named as campaigners warn of protest

Rural campaigners have warned of local protests throughout the country after Gordon Brown announces this week that he is to press ahead with his eco-towns project.

On Thursday the Government will finally name three or four sites in the South and South West that have been chosen to proceed in the first tranche of zero-carbon developments.

The Times has learnt that the front-runners are located in four Conservative councils: Whitehill-Bordon, East Hampshire; China Clay Community, St Austell, Cornwall; North Bicester, Cherwell District Council; and Rackheath, Greater Norwich. Each is said to have local authority backing and will therefore have an easier route through the formal planning consultation. Click for more...

Sunday's Observer - announcement this week?

Sunday Observer, 12th July, 2009
Ecotowns to get go-ahead despite local opposition
The projects in Norfolk and Cornwall are part of a green package to tackle the climate change threat

An abandoned Norfolk airfield and a cluster of Cornish china claypit villages are to become the first of a controversial new breed of "ecotowns", offering thousands of new homes built within a cutting-edge eco-friendly community.

The decision will be a blow to villagers who have campaigned against new developments at Rackheath, just outside Norwich, and St Austell in Cornwall. Only Rackheath got a top rating from an independent panel set up to judge the green credentials of the plans, yet it is one of three projects expected to be taken forward by ministers this week.

The ecotowns will form part of a package of green announcements this week which Gordon Brown will argue can help Britain climb out of recession and reduce the threat from climate change. A white paper will propose major changes to the way Britons travel, work and consume in order to meet targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050. Ministers will also set out plans to reduce pollution by investing in rail electrification - leading to faster trains - and in electric cars, as well as exploring new sources of fuel.

Households, however, may face increases of up to £200 a year in energy bills to help fund investment in renewable sources. An overhaul of the social tariff scheme that reduces fuel bills for the poorest is also expected, with an emphasis on spreading the costs of beating global warming so that those on low incomes do not bear an unfair burden.

Writing in the Observer today, Brown admits that adapting to climate change will not be painless but insists it is both necessary and potentially beneficial, by creating jobs in green industries. Ministers will argue that ecotowns offer test-beds for green ideas, from cutting back on car use to growing our own food, that could become standard in all new communities.

However, householders have voiced fears that nearby villages will be swamped and traffic increased: 71% of villagers polled by Rackheath parish council were against an ecotown. The site lies just outside the Norwich North parliamentary seat, where a byelection, triggered by the resignation of Labour MP Ian Gibson, will be held on 23 July. The Green candidate, Rupert Read, has warned that any carbon savings may be wiped out by plans to build a major road through the countryside north of the city to Norwich airport - funded by cash raised from the Rackheath project.

The St Austell site, where the ecohouses would mostly be tacked on to existing villages, has backing from local politicians but the Council for the Protection of Rural England in Cornwall has argued that the plans are "inappropriate". It argues that transport links are sparse and warns the project will be "doomed to failure" unless jobs are created for thousands of new inhabitants.
Brown originally promised to build 10 ecotowns with up to 200,000 carbon-neutral homes, but the 15-strong shortlist has been repeatedly whittled down as several projects withdrew or were hit by the housing slump: the Norfolk site was a late entry last year and not even on the original list for consideration.

Some of the sites have triggered furious local protests, with celebrities from Dame Judi Dench (campaigning against a proposed site in Middle Quinton, Warwickshire) to tennis player Tim Henman's father Anthony (opposing Weston Otmoor in Oxfordshire) spearheading opposition. The project was dealt a further blow by the Department for Communities and Local Government last year in a report that raised serious doubts over the financial viability of several of the shortlisted sites.

In a sign of the government's determination to salvage the scheme, John Healey, the housing minister, will insist that three projects have made the grade and that others could do so in future with more work on their proposals. The first ecotowns are due to be built by 2016 with the rest completed by 2020.

Tomorrow Ed Miliband, the energy and climate change secretary, will officially open south-east England's biggest onshore wind farm, Little Cheyne Court, near Lydd in Kent. Its 26 turbines have a total generating capacity of 60 megawatts, enough to power 30,000 homes.

High Court challenge to eco-town plans... With fairy cakes?

The controversial bid to build a 5,000-home eco-town on a former airfield is to be challenged in court. Arun District Council is concerned about the Government’s plans for the Ford Airfield site near Arundel.

Chief executive Ian Sumnall has lodged a legal challenge against the plans in the High Court. Arun has already earmarked £20,000 to pay for the legal fees.

The challenge centres around a single word change to the South East Plan where the word “test” was substituted for the word “facilitate” – changing the meaning of the document.

The council is worried that the change, which it says was made without “consultation, explanation or justification”, could mean that eco-towns could be forced on to local authorities without previous testing that has taken place through the council’s own planning document, the Local Development Framework.

The Government’s proposed ecotown scheme would see ten of the new communities built before 2020. The aim is to champion environmentally-friendly lifestyles, carbon-neutrality and energy efficiency. But the councils in each area where the towns have been proposed have objected to the plans.

Now skip jaygee's comments...

MP's pour cold water on the Eco Town plan - press release

Just got this...

West Sussex MPs Nick Herbert (Arundel & South Downs) and Nick Gibb (Bognor Regis & Littlehampton) have raised new doubts about plans to build an eco-town at Ford in the light of proposals to weaken the area’s flood defences.

Last month, the Environment Agency launched a public consultation on plans to reduce the standard of flood defences to the immediate south and east of the eco-town site, saying that current measures are unaffordable.

With an increased risk of flooding on the greenfield site, earmarked for at least 5,000 new houses, the MPs believe that the Environment Agency report further undermines the financial viability of the whole scheme.

The report will come as yet another blow to the Ford Airfield Vision Group (FAVG) who published their final proposals for an eco-town at Ford, including a flood defence plan, back in August 2008.

The FAVG assumed that the flood defences to the south and east of the proposed eco-town would provide protection against at least a 1-in-200 year event. However, the Environment Agency is now proposing to abandon the 1-in-200 year level of protection, a move that will significantly increase the risk of flooding.

On the west bank of the River Arun between the A259 and the Ford railway bridge the protection will be reduced to a 1-in-66 year level, and at Climping there is to be no formal flood defence protection at all. The Environment Agency says it can no longer afford the high cost of maintaining the defences.

Nick Herbert commented: “It can’t make sense for a Government department to be proposing to build a new town on a floodplain while, at the same time, a Government agency is planning to pare back on the flood defences. The financial viability of this scheme was already in considerable doubt before this report was published, and will be even worse if there are now to be additional flood defence costs.

“The case for the eco-town continues to fall apart. The Government should drop Ford from the shortlist and allow Arun District Council to pursue its own plans for meeting the housing needs of local people in the district.”

Nick Gibb commented: “This is a classic case of bureaucratic confusion. One part of the Government is recommending abandoning a crucial part of the Sussex coastline, which we have to fight against. Another part of this Government is proposing to build 5,000 houses in the area that would be more liable to flooding as a result of abandoning the coastline. We have to fight that too. Perhaps Ministers and their quangos should talk to one another.”

The Government is expected to make an announcement on the final shortlist of potential eco-towns before Parliament rises for the summer recess on 21 July.

Eco-town-ology

The Homes and Communities Agency Academy publishes a lovely expensive looking proposal to establish what looks to me like a new academic discipline of Eco Town Studies. The proposal for an "Eco-towns learning capacity building programme" to "build skills amongst those professionals that are necessary for the sucessful development of eco-towns" looks like a lovely future career path for people currently working at the Homes and Communities Agency Academy.

http://showcase.hcaacademy.co.uk/files/general/eco-town-report.pdf

At a time when both main political parties are promising a 'bonfire of the Qangos', it seems extraordinary to me that one such unelected body should come out and stake a claim to forge yet more links, Qangos, study groups, stakeholder groups, learning agents, seminar programmes - and of course some lovely publically funded study trips to attractive European destinations. And all based on building stupid new towns on green fields.

And of course they will see themselves as the future - lumping us together as sceptics who are insufficiently committed to change!

Heading for a showdown

Grant Shapps telling the Commons that the whole programme should be scrapped, and that Developers are 'running scared'.

John Healey saying that he will make an announcement on the remainng sites before the Summer recess.

But what on earth does he mean when he says:

"The links that any developer or company may have with any of these eco-town proposals, with any political party are simply not a material consideration for the decision I take and won't be."

http://www.24dash.com/news/Housing/2009-07-07-Shapps-Developers-running-scared-from-eco-towns

Ford Eco-Town to be discussed

A public meeting will be held at 7pm on Monday July 6th at the St Philip Howard Catholic School, Elm Grove, Barnham. The Joint Downland Area Committee will also look at flooding, health issues and how the new National Park will affect the area. Be there if you care...

An ill wind blows no good

Question marks over their viability threaten to make eco-towns undeliverable. Ahead of a government announcement on their future next month, Chris Ames investigates. Click here...

Ghost Towns?

Housing tops Gordon Brown's Policy plans ... and not an eco-mention in sight!

Read more here.

Eco-town policy slip sparks court action

The government is being taken to court over the eco-towns policy in the South East Plan. Arun District Council has lodged a legal challenge to the policy, which states that councils should "facilitate" proposals agreed for growth points and eco-towns. It previously said they should merely "test" eco-town proposals,...

Subscriber content only - want to read on?

We'll have more on this later today...

Is this the first Eco Town Scheme Obituary?

http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/whatever-happened-to-eco-towns/5204103.article

This is a fantastic article by Damian Arnold - the quotations from sources close to the DCLG simply echo what we have been saying all along.

Even the Chief Exec of the Town and Country Planning Association is now hoping for just 5 towns to be announced. But the article suggests (in what sounds like a preparatory leak of policy to me) that the Homes and Communities Agency will assume responsibility for the whole programme and then quietly substitute existing urban extensions for the greenfield sites on the current list.

Not quite time to pop the champagne, but is it worth popping a couple of bottles in the chiller to be ready?

Seems to be a vote on the West Sussex Gazette's pages today

http://www.westsussextoday.co.uk/ws/West-Sussex-MPs39-expenses-revealed.5380693.jp

Can they just call this one an eco town and leave the rest of us alone?

http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/cn_news_home/displayarticle.asp?id=424458

"In a debate on housing, South Cambridgeshire MP Andrew Lansley urged the new housing minister, John Healey, to make the 9,500-home settlement "the first exemplary eco-town".If it secures that designation, it will qualify for extra funding, including cash to make homes more energy-efficient."

Maybe they can save some face by having one 'eco town' to their name - and quietly let us get on with our lives?

Speak for yourself, mate!

http://www.insidehousing.co.uk/story.aspx?storycode=6504927

Some Planning Lawyer claiming that even the protesters want an announcement on the eco towns soon; "He added that the desire for a prompt decision was a ‘practicality point’, even for those in opposition to the development."

Don't know what you think, but the way I see it, I'm quite happy for the Government to announce nothing until there's a general election and the country can decide on it for them.

‘Delays kill projects,’ he said. In this case, it'd be a mercy killing.