Country Diary

By Robin Page

The Daily Telegraph

And behold, a prophet came down from the North, giving us sustainable communities and we took sustainable communities. But suddenly Brother Prescott was called away to the land of the parliamentary golden handshake, beyond Bulimia, and he was gone. In his wake from the country of Blairbabe, came one Caroline of Flint giving us even greater hope for our green and pleasant land. She smiled, and gave us, without a frown, that great idea, the carbon-neutral "eco-town": "The Brown Town."

Oh dear, if it wasn't so serious it would be funny, but the arrival of the much threatened 15 "eco-towns" is not only a threat to our countryside, but also to our democracy. There is no recognisable democratic process in place; there is no accountability; there is no logic. The Government, after a series of phoney "consultations", is going to foist a number of new towns on to the countryside and by using the word "green" the pretence is that the development will be "eco-friendly". Where is the local democracy in that? The truth is that they will be social and environmental disasters. And beyond the propaganda of "social housing" and "affordable housing", who will the houses be for?

I sat on the planning committee of South Cambridgeshire District Council for about 20 years, before resigning out of disillusionment. South Cambs is virtually the most blighted area in Britain for eco-unfriendly development and the one question I could never get answered was: "Who are the houses for?" My view is simple: the mass development falsely stimulates the economy. Just as Herbert Morrison declared in the 1930s that he intended to "build the Tories out of London", I believe that New Labour is trying to build the Tories out of the Shires - and I write this as a non-Tory.

The first con came from John Prescott with his "sustainable communities". How on earth do you build a community? Communities grow. They grow over hundreds of years for economic, social and strategic reasons. They cannot be created when, with the stroke of a pen, concrete mixers start their work in the middle of an open field. One "sustainable community", Cambourne, lies a few miles away from my village. It is now known locally as Crimebourne. In my view, it is already well on the way to becoming a 21st-century slum.

"Sustainable?" It is built over a watershed, which makes it as environmentally irresponsible as building on a flood plain, and it is totally car dependent. Every morning there is a mass carbon-fuelled exit of cars to join the traffic jams on the A14, M11 and A428. It is a source of light, air and noise pollution and, to judge from the number of for sale signs on view, many of the residents of Cambourne want to leave. Well done John Prescott and if you want him as an after-dinner speaker talking on "policymaking: housing, regeneration and the environment", it will cost you between £10,000 and £12,000. Incredible! And did you know that "he continues to advise the Chinese on their plans to build a thousand new 'sustainable cities'". Heaven help the Chinese.

Now with the arrival of "eco-towns", step forward Caroline Flint MP, Minister of State for Housing and Planning, born and brought up in Twickenham, so naturally representing the Don Valley, 150 miles away. She has done nothing I regard as a proper job and at university obtained a degree in American Literature and Film Studies! What a background from which to plan thousands of houses on open countryside, including several "green sites" on good agricultural land. Bizarrely, too, according to The Public Whip website, she wants to strengthen the climate change bill, while at the same time she is against limiting civil aviation pollution. When hearing her talk, I would rather listen to the speaking clock. I wonder who her favourite character in American literature happens to be. Mickey Mouse?

At the proposed Hanley Grange eco-town site in Cambridgeshire, there is already transport chaos and little groundwater. What's more, all the development's run-off will have to pass through the city of Cambridge. A case of planned flooding?

The environmentalist Jonathon Porritt talks sense when he says that Britain should set an example by reversing its steeply rising population. Housing would not then be an issue. It won't happen of course, for, as he says: "Politicians won't touch it because they think it will get them into trouble on immigration policy." I wrote earlier "Heaven help the Chinese" but Heaven help Britain, too, and especially the British countryside.

Read the article in The Telegraph here .