Thursday 12 March 2009

Study finds just two eco-towns are viable

he financial viability of the government’s planned eco-town programme has been called into question by a new report which gave only two of the proposals a glowing bill of health. Research, commissioned and published by the Communities and Local Government department, found significant question marks remained in six out of the eight schemes examined. Click for more...

A better way to treat our aviation heritage

A friend has pointed me to the following link http://www.stowmaries.com/about.html

It is good to see that some farming families who own old RAF airfields have found better things to do with them. In this case, the airfield is being restored and a museum built to celebrate its part in WWI. The workshops are going to be restored and used again for high tech engineering - all done in a sympathetic way. The new owners are working in conjunction with local wildlife charities to encourage even greater diversity on the restored land.

If only the owners of Ford had felt a greater respect for the land they own and the communities who surround it.

Ford (prison) in the news for the wrong reasons

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/sussex/7939048.stm

No eco town news I can find, so here's a link to the neighbours!

Monday 9 March 2009

FInancially viable - I don't think so!

Let's face it, our politicians do not have a good record of financial judgement recently. So taking time off from failing to regulate the banks, they have now published a Financial Viability assessment of the proposed eco town sites.

For Ford they say "The promoter is also yet to fully develop their rail strategy for the project; but initial proposals suggest the provision of a new station or loop, and an adjacent parking facility of 500 spaces" Now like me you are probably struggling with this - I thought they said there'd be community transport and cycling - now there are 500 cars! How eco is that! "The proposer has costed this at £2.5 million." The document then goes on to say that they think this figure is too little, and that more money should be provided for the station and EVEN MORE PARKING!

Revealing yet more of the eco fakery going on here, and the inconsistencies within the swathes of documentation coming out of the DCLG and the Ford Airfield Vision Group, in this particular report the ROADS ARE BACK!

"At the time of writing the promoter has not proposed a transport solution for addressing the impact the development could have on local roads and the strategic network that is acceptable to the Department for Transport/Highways Agency" - yes we've been saying that for nearly a year now!! However they are proposing to spend £41 million on roads! That link to the A27 is back - in this document at least! Oh, and the one to the A259!

http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/housing/pdf/1165892.pdf

Honestly - this is farcical! And at the end of this, incredibly, they conclude that the scheme has the potential to be financially viable! Presumably, these are the same people who thought that our financial system was in a robust health not many months ago!