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The Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM) does not believe that eco-towns are the right solution to achieving zero-carbon communities.
According to CIWEM, eco-towns have been proposed as a response to the challenges of climate change, sustainable living and the need to increase housing supply. CIWEM considers that a more effective way of delivering the environmental, social and economic targets highlighted in the Government’s eco-towns proposals would be to focus on improving existing housing stock and infrastructure.
The Institution believes there is a real challenge concerning the environmental performance of existing housing stock which is receiving insufficient emphasis and there is a risk that eco-towns will divert the Government’s attention away from other environmental initiatives. CIWEM say that eco-towns will constitute a very small proportion of housing stock and will therefore make a limited contribution to emission targets – and would like to remind the Government that building new homes emits more carbon than regenerating old ones.
CIWEM point out that as many of the 27 million houses in the UK have a poor environmental performance, improving the efficiency of existing stock would make a significant contribution to meeting the Government’s targets on emission reduction.
CIWEM is also concerned that other new developments, including the 3 million new homes the Government is seeking to build by 2020, will not be required to meet the higher levels of the Code for Sustainable Homes until 2016. The establishment of ambitious statutory requirements for all new housing in the short-term, alongside equally ambitious targets for the retrofitting of existing housing stock, would be a far more effective way of meeting the environmental challenge.
Nick Reeves, CIWEM’s Executive Director, said:
“The Government’s plan for ten new eco-towns is the latest in a long line of dotty ideas for fantasy communities we’ve seen in the past that appeals to authoritarian politicians desperate to leave a personal legacy. Eco-towns are a distraction from the really big issues of environment, housing and the economy.”
“The fact is Britain has plenty of eco-towns and cities. They are Birmingham, Leeds, London, Manchester, etc. By focusing effort on these, the Government can achieve social cohesion and environmental and economic sustainability. By making towns and cities work better we can preserve the countryside and reduce carbon emissions. To provide 3 million new homes will take more than a few eco-towns. And plonked in the countryside miles from jobs, shops, public transport and essential services such as sewers and water, and at a time when public spending is getting tighter, few eco-towns will actually work.
Eco-towns will be isolated and too small to become anything other than commuter dormitories or green ghettos. Far better to concentrate efforts on existing urban settlements where the infrastructure already exists. This is where the government should target its climate change agenda.”
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