Concreting the countryside


How should we accommodate the housing expansion in London and SE England? Should we be building on greenfield or brownfield land?

PROFESSOR PETER HALL

MARTIN CROOKSTON

SIMON JENKINS 

  • TALKS
  • FOCUSEco Towns
  • 60 SECONDSHousing in England
  • INTERVIEWS
  • NEWSMost ecotown sites ‘unsuitable’, say experts

Tour of Staiths South Bank, Gateshead with Wayne Hemingway

A tour of the Staiths South Bank housing development in Gateshead with Wayne Hemingway

watch video »

Introduction by Simon Jenkins

Simon Jenkins, Guardian columnist and Chairman of National Trust, introduces the speakers Sir Peter Hall and Martin Crookston

watch video »
Eco Towns

Eco Towns

A government response to the challenges of climate change, sustainable living…

more »
The Thames Gateway

The Thames Gateway

Europe’s largest regeneration project, stretching 40 miles along the Thames Estuary

more »
Housing in England

Housing in England

a guide to housing in England

more »
Brownfield land

Brownfield land

a guide to brownfield land

more »
The Green Belt

The Green Belt

a guide to the Green Belt

more »

Four ‘eco-towns’ earmarked for government funds

  • Source: BBC News
  • Icon: Script 8th February 2010

Four "eco-towns" due to be built in England are to receive a funding boost of £60m to be spread over the next two years, the government has announced.

full article »

Taylor Wimpey new home orders swell by 28%

  • Source: The Times
  • Icon: Script 18th January 2010

Taylor Wimpey, the UK’s biggest housebuilder, today revealed it has entered the new year with a 28 per cent rise in orders for new homes as improved conditions and rising prices had enabled the group to reduce its debt.

full article »

Grey to green - new publication from CABE

  • Source: CABE
  • Icon: Script 26th November 2009

New CABE report on how we shift funding and skills to green our cities. Green infrastructure does not receive anything like the investment or management that goes into grey infrastructure.

full article »

Housebuilding figures down

  • Source: Shelter
  • Icon: Script 28th October 2009

Revised figures published today for the past 12 months to June 2009 show that housebuilding is in even greater decline than shown in previous government figures released in August.

full article »

Eco towns get green light despite local opposition

  • Source: The Times
  • Icon: Script 17th July 2009

Ministers gave approval yesterday for the building of four “pioneer” eco-towns and insisted that at least 10,000 homes would be in place by 2016 in the face of local opposition.

full article »

Four sites to become ‘eco towns’

  • Source: BBC News
  • Icon: Script 16th July 2009

The locations of four new "eco-towns" have been announced as part of scaled-down government plans. They are Rackheath, Norfolk; north west Bicester, Oxfordshire; Whitehill Bordon, East Hants; and the China Clay Community near St Austell, Cornwall.

full article »

No 10 denies ‘housing cash row’

  • Source: BBC News
  • Icon: Script 30th June 2009

Downing Street has denied reports that there is no agreement over funding for Gordon Brown's plan to build an extra 20,000 affordable homes in two years.

full article »

Eco-towns could be illegal because of a failure to consult properly, according to legal advice given to town halls.

full article »

Eco-towns plan undermined by official report

  • Source: Financial Times
  • Icon: Script 25th March 2009

Gordon Brown’s plans for a generation of 10 new “eco-towns” have been further undermined after their financial prospects were questioned for the first time by the government’s own advisers.

full article »

Techniques for geo-engineering are coming under serious scrutiny as temperatures and CO2 emissions continue to rise

full article »

House prices ‘could fall by further 55 per cent’

  • Source: The Daily Telegraph
  • Icon: Script 12th March 2009

House prices may fall by a further 55 percent and there is a "very real probability" that Britain will be bankrupted, a leading investment bank has warned in a private note to clients.

full article »

The number of new homes being built needs to more than double to meet population demand by 2031, official figures are likely to show today

full article »

MPs criticise housing department

  • Source: BBC News
  • Icon: Script 4th March 2009

A major Whitehall department lacks the skills needed to put vital policies into operation, MPs have said.

full article »

Newly formed 2020 Group says building mroe homes would boost economy and save thousands of jobs

full article »

Quarter of UK homes to be offered green makeover

  • Source: The Guardian
  • Icon: Script 9th February 2009

More than one in four homes in the UK will be offered a complete eco-makeover under ambitious plans expected to be announced this week to slash fuel bills and cut global warming pollution.

full article »

Gordon Brown orders thousands of new council houses

  • Source: The Times
  • Icon: Script 30th January 2009

The biggest council house building programme since the 1950s was ordered by Gordon Brown yesterday as he urged town halls to rescue the construction industry and help to kick-start the economy.

full article »

Campaigners lose eco-towns appeal

  • Source: BBC News
  • Icon: Script 28th January 2009

Campaigners have lost a High Court challenge to the government's plans to build as many as 10 "eco-towns".

full article »

Fierce opposition forces Brown to shorten eco-towns shortlist

  • Source: The Independent
  • Icon: Script 12th January 2009

Only five proposals for environment-friendly settlements make the grade, officials say

full article »

Architect slams ‘dismal’ UK design

  • Source: The Guardian
  • Icon: Script 3rd December 2008

One of Prince Charles's allies in his battle against modern architecture has attacked the "disappointing to dismal" design of British postwar towns.

full article »

The Mayor of London refused to scale back his housing targets despite gloom in the sector, because while times were “incredibly difficult”, it “doesn’t mean for a second that we should abandon our ambitions”.

full article »

New question marks over eco-towns

  • Source: BBC News
  • Icon: Script 4th November 2008

Nearly all the locations earmarked for new eco-towns have question marks about them, ministers have acknowledged.

full article »

The Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) release 'Greener homes for the future? An environmental analysis of the Government’s housebuilding plans'

full article »

MPs say downturn could save greenfield land from developers

  • Source: The Guardian
  • Icon: Script 3rd November 2008

The government should revise its target to build 3m new homes by 2020 in the light of the economic downturn, which gives ministers a chance to save greenfield land from development, a committee of MPs says today.

full article »

Britain’s environmental heritage at risk, warns CPRE

  • Source: Daily Telegraph
  • Icon: Script 27th October 2008

Britain risks losing its "fabulous inheritance of landscape and wildlife" as the Government allows developments - including its flagship eco-town projects - to spring up across the countryside, the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) has warned

full article »

House building ‘at lowest level for 50 years’

  • Source: The Daily Telegraph
  • Icon: Script 3rd October 2008

The number of new homes being built in Britain has fallen to the lowest level for more than 50 years, research suggests

full article »

How do you know if it’s an eco-town?

  • Source: www.cabe.org.uk
  • Icon: Script 25th September 2008

The government’s eco-towns initiative has started a number of debates – about their size and the choice of locations, and how lessons from new towns can be applied to the existing built environment.

full article »

Eco-town project likely to go to High Court

  • Source: The Daily Telegraph
  • Icon: Script 11th September 2008

A judge has ruled that a judicial review of the whole eco towns programme should go ahead

full article »

Tesco pulls out of eco-towns project at Hanley Grange

  • Source: The Times
  • Icon: Script 29th August 2008

A quarter of the developers on the Government's shortlist of 15 eco-towns have now abandoned the schemes, which have prompted widespread protests.

full article »

Government Housing Minister Caroline Flint says the 15 potential ‘eco-towns’ in the UK can provide more affordable housing in areas under pressure both in terms of supply and affordability, but admits some greenfield sites will be lost.

full article »

Housing and Regeneration Bill passed

  • Source: www.parliament.uk
  • Icon: Script 27th July 2008

The Housing and Regeneration Bill 2007-08 passed by Parliament in July aims to, among other things, reform social housing and social housing regulation, and support the delivery of 3 million new homes.

full article »

Millions more homes needed by 2020

  • Source: The Daily Telegraph
  • Icon: Script 26th June 2008

The Government has been told that in order to make housing more affordable 3.48 million new houses need to be built by 2020. The article details which areas are most in need of new affordable houses to be developed and how this should be approached.

full article »

Just one of the 12 sites competing to become one of Gordon Brown's ecotowns is currently considered suitable by the government's green consultants.

full article »