Eco town group outlines car-reduction aim

28 May 2008

The company behind the proposed eco town in Leicestershire has revealed more details on how it plans to reduce car use.

The Co-operative Group has put forward proposals including reduced charges on public transport, the blocking of key routes at busy times, and opposing a road link to the M1, in a bid to get people out of their cars at the new development.

Plans already in the pipeline for the 15,000-home Pennbury development include a bus rapid-transit link. Leicestershire’s assistant director for highways, Ian Drummond, who sits on the eco town joint technical group, said Co-operative had brought its transport plans into ‘sharper focus’, but said much more substance was needed before any plans could be taken further.

First, what we need to know from the developers is what we are dealing with, in terms of how many people are travelling where,’ he said. ‘It’s all very well having good links to the city centre, but much of Leicester’s employment is in the south, southwest and north of the city.

‘If the development will have a lot of affordable housing, then we could expect low-paid public sector workers to live there, such as hospital staff, yet only one hospital is in the centre of Leicester.’

He said the Department for Transport had given a deadline of October for projects to be outlined in detail, and queried whether this would be met.

‘We need to know how these plans will work, what infrastructure is required, and will people actually use it?’

Meanwhile, in West Sussex, Arun District Council has set up a select committee to look into its 5,000-home eco town proposals. Comprising eight councillors and an independent planning adviser, the select committee is to meet with the Government’s eco town challenge panel of 12 ‘experts’ from the worlds of design, transport and television.

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