News Release

17th July 2008

PARLIAMENTARY ANSWERS REVEAL ECO TOWN SHAMBLES

In a couple of Parliamentary Written answers to Michael Fabricant, Housing Minister Caroline Flint has "washed her hands off of Curborough". Michael Fabricant says: "After the complete shambles of the Government's hugely trumpeted eco-town initiative where developers have now been pulling out of eco-town proposals up and down the country, Caroline Flint has washed her hands off of Curborough. She refuses to take responsibility for a misleading full page colour advertisement bought in a local newspaper which wrongly stated that the Curborough eco-town would be built on an old airfield. In fact, 90% would be built on rich farming land. Instead she says it doesn't matter because the fine print is in a website which readers should have looked at to check the accuracy of the advertisement.

"And now she says it is up to Lichfield District Council to build additional housing - but this was already on the cards with 8,000 new homes, many of them affordable housing, scheduled to be built in Lichfield District.

"This whole project has been a fiasco from beginning to end and I will now formally be calling for the Housing Minister's resignation" says Michael.

The two Parliamentary Questions and Answers are shown below:

Eco-towns: Curborough

Michael Fabricant: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether Curborough remains on her Department's list of potential locations for eco-towns following the Curborough Consortium's decision to withdraw its application to build an eco-town.

Caroline Flint: I can confirm that the Curborough Consortium has withdrawn its eco-town proposal and the site is no longer on the long list of potential locations. We had to expect that some developers would and will decide to remove themselves from the long list, while others will not meet the high standards needed to make it through to our final shortlist.

However, where eco-towns proposals are withdrawn, the local authorities will have to face up to the challenge of increasing housing supply and find another way to address the need for housing, and in particular affordable housing.

Michael Fabricant: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what location for the proposed eco-town at Curborough, Staffordshire is indicated in the promotional materials published by her Department; what the location of the proposed site is; and what steps she plans to take to correct the promotional materials.