Greener living in Britain's first eco-towns should become a reality for up to 30,000 people in five years, following the announcement of the four sites that will go through to the next planning phase.
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Greener living in Britain's first eco-towns should become a reality for up to 30,000 people in five years, following Housing Minister John Healey's announcement of the four sites that will go through to the next planning phase, full public consultation and local planning approval.
The successful eco-town sites, which will pioneer innovative design and infrastructure for greener living, are:
These sites have met the Government's tough standards during two years of thorough assessment.
Rackham has also shown it has the potential for real innovation in how the site could be developed. This includes the ecological corridor between Norwich and the Broads and returning large areas to heathland and the potential for the extensive use of renewable energy sources, through wind turbines, ground source heat pumps and combined heat sources. The existing rail network also has the potential to be improved, offering a reliable route into Norwich, alongside bus and cycle routes.
The Minister also announced that developers in the four successful locations will be able to bid for a share of £60 million to support local infrastructure. He said he wanted to see at least six second wave areas and is making up to £5 million available for councils to conduct further planning work on proposals.
Eco-towns will include:
Alongside the plans for eco-towns, the Minister announced tougher new energy standards for all new homes from 2016 to be zero carbon and launched a review to combine the Government's climate change and renewable energy planning policy statements.
With more than a quarter of Britain's carbon emissions produced from homes, the announcements are a major step towards meeting the Government's green policy pledges and Britain's transition to a low carbon country.
The Energy Saving Trust launched Green Communities - a brand new hub offering free online tools and advice. The online service includes a carbon footprint tool, which allows registered members to pinpoint exactly how their community can reduce carbon emissions and save money.
Once registered, members have access to the Green Communities Carbon Footprint tool, which has been developed in partnership with East of England Development Agency (EEDA).
The tool allows users to generate a free impartial, personalised report showing exactly how their community can stop wasting carbon and money.
All Green Communities will be able to follow and promote their progress on a unique webpage, which charts their projects' individual carbon savings.
Members will also have access to free expert advice from the Energy Saving Trust: training workshops and one-to-one consultation on project ideas; online resources such as case studies of other successful projects.
Furthermore, following feedback from 'Green Communities' members across the UK, the Energy Saving Trust is now offering:
Philip Sellwood, Chief Executive of the Energy Saving Trust, said:
"We already have 2,000 community groups signed up across the UK and interest is growing daily.
"We still speak to individual householders but our research shows that the average person has 169 people in their social networks.
"Britons are already acting as advisers to 10 people on energy-related issues. We know that by working with communit ies the potential to influence friends and families is huge."
Warm Zone, BGC, Baxi Group and Veolia Water Outsourcing have collaborated to help local authorities and RSLs to address the issues of fuel poverty in off-mains gas areas.
Each organisation is a specialist in its field. Together they can deliver utility networks and energy solutions that will enable home energy conservation targets to be met, carbon emissions to be significantly reduced and affordable warmth to be provided for vulnerable and low-income households.
In particular, they install major gas network extensions into off-mains gas areas throughout the UK where grants are available to finance projects for households experiencing fuel poverty and hardship.
Between them, the four organisations can develop proposals for the design, installation, ownership, maintenance and operation of the gas network extension project. And they can sugges t the most appropriate home heating product for each dwelling.
William Gillis, Managing Director, Warm Zone, said:
"We aim to identify homes in the most deprived areas and enable them to benefit financially from reduced fuel bills. And we can reduce the carbon footprint of the least efficient homes in line with local authority and Government targets."
