The four eco-towns will be built on a former RAF base near Norwich in Norfolk, an old army barracks in East Hampshire, on the outskirts of Bicester near Oxford and on the site of an old china clay mine near St Austell in Cornwall.
This is one fewer than the Government had originally envisaged. But they are still part of a two phase programme that will see at least 5,000 homes built on 10 sites, the first by 2016 and the other six by 2020.
There was widespread concern during the consultation process about their possible impact on the countryside including traffic congestion, harm to wildlife habitats and flooding.
However the Campaign to Protect Rural England said it was encouraged by the choice of locations. 'From a list of deeply worrying and unsustainable locations the Government has chosen to go with the least damaging,' said the organisation's senior planning officer Kate Gordon.
The new eco-towns will have to embrace low and zero carbon technologies, state-of-the-art recycling and water systems, good public transport, and provide between 30 and 50% social housing.
They will now have to go through the planning process. If they are successful it will result in the first Government-backed green new towns in the world. The developments will be made up of 40% green space like parks and less than 50% of travel will be by car. Wind turbines and woodchip boilers will power homes. Residents will heat water for showers with solar panels and reuse the water for plants. They will also collect food scraps for burning to generate electricity and use sewage to heat homes.
A further two possible sites – Rossington in South Yorkshire and North-East Elsenham in Essex – still have potential to be eco-towns, the Government said, but need more work to address certain issues with the bids.
