Next month, Gordon Brown has announced that he will name five 'eco-towns' in England, where zero carbon developments will be built, with up to 1000,000 houses in each. He has also announced that there are plans to build a further five eco-towns, at least one in each region, making a total of ten. The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) has announced its support for the initiative, and has produced some research as to likely candidates. 'CPRE is sympathetic towards the eco-towns initiative. Whether we can support individual eco-town proposals will depend on where they are located, what form they take, and how they are developed. Schemes should genuinely secure a step-change in environmental standards,' it stated. However the body is keen that these plans not take away from a focus on the remainder of its plans for housebuilding in coming years: 'While CPRE welcomes the focus on the environmental implications of new housing, eco-towns represent less than 10% of the 3 million new homes the Government is seeking to build by 2020,' it says. The full Government plans for eco-towns are set out in the Eco-Towns Prospectus which can be found here.
Potential eco towns map
CPRE's list of likely eco town candidates is below: NORTH EAST 1 Cambois (Northumberland) 2 Marley Hill (Gateshead) NORTH WEST 3 Mersey Heartlands (Wirral) 4 Carrington (Greater Manchester) 5 Nantwich (Cheshire) YORKSHIRE & THE HUMBER 6 Clifton Gate (City of York) 7 Micklefield (West Yorkshire) 8 Willow Green (North Yorkshire) 9 Darringfield (West Yorkshire) 10 Rossington (South Yorkshire) 11 Waverley (South Yorkshire) EAST MIDLANDS 12 New Kingston (Nottinghamshire) 13 Grovewood (Derbyshire) 14 Pennbury (Leicestershire) 15 Strubby (Lincolnshire) WEST MIDLANDS 16 Fradley (Staffordshire) 17 Rugby Masts (Warwickshire) 18 Throckmorton (Worcestershire) 19 Middle Quinton/Long Marston (Warwickshire) EAST OF ENGLAND 20 RAF Alconbury (Cambridgeshire) 21 RAF Wyton (Cambridgeshire) 22 Mereham (Cambridgeshire) 23 Waterbeach (Cambridgeshire) 24 RAF Coltishall (Norfolk) 25 Cambridge Heath (Cambridgeshire) 26 The Wixams (Bedfordshire) 27 Hanley Grange (Cambridgeshire) 28 Elsenham (Essex) 29 Thamesgate (Thurrock) SOUTH EAST 30 Little Horwood (Buckinghamshire) 31 Weston-on-the Green (Oxfordshire) 32 Shipton-on-Cherwell (Oxfordshire) 33 Micheldever (Hampshire) 34 Bordon (Hampshire) 35 Dunsfold Park (Surrey) 36 Ford Airfield (West Sussex) SOUTH WEST 37 Sherford (Devon) 38 St Austell (Cornwall)
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Interiors that inspire in a four-bedroom cottage in HertfordshireCome for the Grade II-listed family home an hour from Central London, stay for the interior-design inspiration.
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The house that refused to die: Castle Howard's spectacular 21st-century renaissance'Molten lead cascaded from the roof into the centre hall, and then the dome crashed to the ground, leaving the interior an inferno of blazing timber and shattered stonework.' 85 years on from the devastating fire at Castle Howard, restoration is still going on. Annunciata Elwes reports.
