Anger as three eco-towns progress

The settlements are expected to be carbon neutral

Campaigners have reacted angrily to three proposed eco-towns making a government shortlist.

Pennbury in Leicestershire, Rushcliffe in Nottinghamshire and Manby in Lincolnshire are among 15 schemes going forward for further study.

Opponents have insisted the settlements of up to 15,000 homes will spoil important countryside and overwhelm local infrastructure.

A final list of 10 projects will be selected in six months' time.

An eco-town planned for land between Drakelow and Rosliston in South Derbyshire is not on the list.

The government wants to ease the housing shortage by creating 10 carbon-neutral settlements across the country.

We shall now meet their criteria in terms of fighting everything to do with it Steve Charlish, protestor

Co-operative Estates is seeking to develop land between the villages of Stoughton and Great Glen, to the south west of Leicester, for the Pennbury site.

Steve Charlish, who has protested against the scheme, promised to continue the fight.

"However, the fight goes on and this is only the shortlist and we shall now meet their criteria in terms of fighting everything to do with it."

The MP for Harborough, Edward Garnier, says the decision is simply wrong.

"The lead up to this, since last November, has been a process which has demonstrated a complete lack of candour and, indeed, secrecy.

"I think the decision we are faced with is wrong for all sorts of obvious reasons and, I have to say, only a moron in a hurry would have made it," he said.

A proposal for 6,000 homes near Gotham was rejected but the government said it would look again at a possible project elsewhere in the Rushcliffe area.

The company behind plans for the rejected eco-town in Nottinghamshire said it may still submit plans for the site.

Banks Development said it will review the decision and may still take forward plans for 6,000 carbon-neutral homes at Kingston-on-Soar.

The brownfield site at Manby near Louth has been put forward by East Lindsey District Council.

The chairman of the Campaign to Protect Rural England in Lincolnshire, John Rose, said he has some reservations about the transport links in the area around Manby.

"All the plus factors on eco-towns will be counter-balanced by the need to get out of town to get to your place of work," he said.

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