Planners attack scrapping of eco-towns policy

摘要

Planners have hit out at the government's decision to cancel planning policy designed to ensure any new settlements are built to high environmental standards. The eco-towns planning policy statement was put in place under the last Labour government in order to support then prime minister Gordon Brown's plan for 10 5,000-home eco-towns. However, despite the fact the government is planning a swathe of new settlements under the "garden city" label, which it says will "set high standards for design, quality and the provision of green space," it has cancelled the planning guidance designed to ensure new towns are socially and environmentally sustainable.