Alternative bid for eco-town plan

Tougher green standards have been set for eco-towns

An alternative bid to build an eco-town in Oxfordshire has been announced after the government said plans for another site were unlikely to go ahead.

Housing Minister Margaret Beckett said the plans for Weston Moor ranked low in a sustainability study and came at the bottom of a government shortlist of 12.

Mrs Beckett said an alternative scheme, proposed by the council, on the edge of Bicester, may prove a better option.

But residents near this site said they were "alarmed" at the idea.

The Weston Otmoor site was given a low rating in a sustainability study and the Minister said it would only be suitable with "substantial and exceptional innovation".

Paul Minty from Weston Front, a group campaigning against the development, said: "I believe we should be celebrating, but celebrating very cautiously.

"At the end of the day we are looking at something which could change - the planners could change their minds and the developers could come back with yet another 'brilliant' idea.

As much as I like Bicester I don't like the thought of Bucknall becoming a suburb Patrick Woodrow, resident

"So we are having a drink but we are drinking gently."

But Michael Gibbard, portfolio holder for housing said Cherwell District Council never considered the Western Otmoor site a viable option.

"We said from the start it was totally against our local and national planning ideas, it was totally wrong for the environment, it was totally wrong for Bicester and Kidlington it was not 'eco' - it was a parachuted in new town.

"Some of the ideas for that community were fantasy land."

Cherwell District Council has instead put forward plans for 5,000 houses in north west Bicester.

Mr Gibbard said this would be a truly 'green' development.

He said: "I've used the word "eco" in Bicester because I'm talking about eco-credibility.

"I'm talking about providing houses, providing waste water recirculation and alternative heating - I'm using eco in the proper sense."

Local resident Patrick Woodrow who lives in nearby Bucknall said: "I am shocked and alarmed.

"As much as I like Bicester I don't like the thought of Bucknall becoming a suburb.

"And I don't see how shifting the problem from A to B is actually going to solve anything."

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