PROPOSED ECO-TOWN – PENNBURY

The County Council’s Cabinet approved its response to the Government’s draft Eco-town Planning Policy Statement (PPS) on 10 February 2009. The Cabinet objected strongly to the eco-town process which the Government has followed to date. It has not adhered to the accepted plan led approach with its customary democratic and community involvement and it has not properly considered alternatives to Pennbury. The County Council also objected to the proposals for an eco-town at Pennbury in the strongest possible terms for the reasons set out in the 10 February report. The lack of an economic strategy and an inability to deliver the jobs at Pennbury are paramount concerns. Taking all factors into account, the County Council strongly believe that Pennbury should not be shortlisted as an eco-town location in the final version of the PPS.

View the 10 February Cabinet report

Following the Cabinet report, the County Council has undertaken a consultation exercise to test the extent to which there would be public support for the County’s response. Some 15,600 leaflets were distributed locally to explain the County Council’s position on eco-towns and to invite feedback. A public meeting was held in Oadby on 2 March to discuss the Council’s response. The overwhelming reaction has been strong support for the position taken by the County Council. This response was reported back to Cabinet at its meeting on 7 April.

On 5 March, the Government published a Financial Viability Study of the eco-towns programme. Carried out by PricewaterhouseCoopers, this seeks to assess the extent to which eco-town proposals may be viable. It explains the approach used, the assumptions adopted and sets out likely costs of the schemes. The Study’s conclusion is that Pennbury has “the potential to generate sufficient value to cover the direct and indirect costs of delivering the scheme without recourse to public subsidy.”  The County Council’s Scrutiny Review Panel has examined the Study and a report including the Panel’s comments was considered by Cabinet on 7 April. The report concluded that the Study lacks detail and transparency, makes unrealistic assumptions, excludes key costs, underestimates important costs and gives no information on predicted revenue. There is therefore insufficient evidence presented in the Study to come to the conclusion that Pennbury is “potentially viable”. Indeed, the evidence which the County Council has leads to the conclusion that Pennbury would not be “potentially viable” without substantial Government subsidy.

View the 7 April Cabinet report (Item 4)

The consultants Halcrow have also carried out an independent review of the Financial Viability Study. They conclude that they have serious reservations that the Study has under-estimated the likely costs involved and has made a number of questionable assumptions about financing and market absorption. Halcrow state that they therefore have no confidence in the conclusions reached on viability in the Study.

The Scrutiny Review Panel for the eco-town have published their report.  

The panel, made up of Councillors Jackie Dickinson, Michael Griffiths, John Legrys, John Moore and Peter Roffey, staged 16 meetings and heard evidence from a number of experts, on issues such as regeneration, housing, planning, transport and farming.

Key findings include:

On 3 April last year, the Government published a list of 15 locations that have been short listed as possible sites for eco-towns. One of these locations lies to the south east of Leicester in an area around Stoughton village. Here the Co-op has put forward a proposal for an eco-town in conjunction with the Homes and Communities Agency. Provisionally, the town has been named Pennbury.

The Co-op are proposing 15,000 new homes at Pennbury on 600 hectares of land. 4,500 of these would be affordable houses. The Co-op state that all the houses would be built to meet high environmental standards. Jobs, schools, shops, health facilities, parks and leisure facilities would all be provided in the eco-town. The design of the town will encourage walking and cycling with good public transport. The Co-op believe that they can create a sustainable development and that they will seek to maximise the benefits and minimise the impact of the proposals.

The Government has indicated that there will be four stages to take forward the eco-town programme:

Stage 1 – a consultation to 30 June 2008 on preliminary views on eco-towns in general and the 15 locations short listed.

Stage 2 – from July 2008 to the end of April 2009,  consultation on more detailed assessments of the 15 locations and on a draft Planning Policy Statement (PPS) on eco-towns.

Stage 3 – publication of the final PPS including a list of locations with potential to be an eco-town in July 2009

Stage 4 – consideration of planning applications for individual schemes.

As part of Stage 1, Leicestershire County Council prepared a newsletter which gave the latest information on the Pennbury proposals and encouraged everyone to send in their comments about Pennbury. This was distributed within the Pennbury and surrounding area. The County Council also held two public meetings to provide an opportunity for residents to find out more and express their views. Through this process, a large number of questions and concerns were raised. Harborough and Oadby & Wigston Councils carried out similar consultation exercises at the same time and the Co-op held an exhibition at a number of different locations. Based on an examination of the Co-op’s proposals and the feedback from the consultation, a report was considered by the County Council’s Cabinet on 20 June.  Copies of the report can be viewed on the County Council’s website. At the meeting, Cabinet approved a number of comments which together represent the Council’s preliminary views on eco-towns and Pennbury in particular. The response included a number of concerns about Pennbury.

The draft PPS on Eco-towns sets out the standards which eco-towns must meet, the process for dealing with them and the criteria for assessing them. Stage 2 has involved work to assess the draft PPS and the proposals for an eco-town at Pennbury. The County Council set up a Scrutiny Review Panel which received evidence from a range of experts and has published its findings in a Panel Report. The four local authorities commissioned Halcrow to carry out a Strategic Assessment which has tested the assumptions behind the Co-op’s proposals and looked at the impact of Pennbury. This work was completed in December. The County Council has led on work which has modelled the transport implications of Pennbury and considered transport improvements and mitigation measures which would be needed if Pennbury went ahead. Further more detailed transport work has been undertaken by White Young Green. The Government has commissioned a Sustainability Appraisal which was completed towards the end of last year and a Financial Viability Study which was published in March. The County Council’s Cabinet considered the draft PPS and the Pennbury proposals on 10 February. Taking account of all this information it resolved to object strongly to the eco-town process which the Government has followed and to object in the strongest possible terms to the proposals for an eco-town at Pennbury. The County Council’s concerns about the Financial Viability Study are set out in the report to Cabinet on 7 April.

The County Council’s response will be sent off to the Government to meet its 30 April deadline. Harborough District, Oadby and Wigston District, the City Council and other agencies will all be agreeing upon the responses they want to send back to the Government by the end of April. The Government will then spend some time going through all the comments received and then decide upon changes needed to the PPS. They will also need to decide which locations are to be shortlisted. The Government have stated that they hope to publish the final version of the PPS in July. The Government have stressed that all shortlisted sites would still have to go through the normal planning process and be considered in the Regional Plan, the Local Development Framework and then be the subject of a planning application.

Eco Town Joint Strategic Officers Group - 9 February 2009 (PDF File)

Eco Town Joint Strategic Officers Group - 15 January 2009 (PDF File)

Click on the links below to view more documents relevant to the proposed ecotown.

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