Families in 'eco-towns' must have one person who does not drive to work, say ministers

Every single household in controversial new eco-towns will have to have one person who does not drive to work, the Government said today.

Plans for the new green communities say that at least one worker from each house should be able to get to their job by walking, cycling or using public transport.

Housing minister Caroline Flint said a half of all journeys made by people living in the new towns should be 'sustainable' - that is, not in cars.

And the average home should be within a 10 minute walk of frequent public transport.

But opponents said the new rules would make eco-towns less environmentally friendly than normal developments, making it hard to understand what the point of them was.

The Government has come in for a barrage of criticism from people living near the 15 proposed sites, amid claims the new towns would be forced through despite public opposition.

On Wednesday, lawyers for the Local Government Association said the Government's approach to delivering the eco-towns could be 'unlawful' because it bypassed existing planning policy.

The new standards, from the Department for Communities and Local Government, also say that a minimum of 40 per cent of land within the town is undeveloped green space, with at least half of that open to the public as parks.

Around a third of the homes should be 'affordable', and the whole development should be zero carbon - meaning that they do not emit more energy than consumed.

Housing minister Caroline Flint said: 'These would be the toughest standards ever set out for new development and demonstrate that there will be no compromise on quality with eco-towns.

'We need to build more homes in this country, but given that housing contributes 27 per cent of our carbon emissions we must also take this opportunity to trial new ways of tackling climate change. In both cases, doing nothing is not an option.

'Eco towns will meet part of our housing need by creating attractive, new communities with all the facilities that people look for when choosing a place to live.'

The new standards say all eco-town homes should meet standard four of environmental sustainability.

But this was ridiculed by political opponents, who pointed out that all homes will have to reach the much stricter standard six by 2016.

Liberal Democrat housing spokesman Lembit Opik said: 'There's surely some mistake here. This means that eco-towns could be less environmentally friendly than normal towns.

'Instead of settling challenging environmental standards, eco-towns will be out of date by the time they are even built. The Government has swapped its version of cutting edge developments for bog-standard homes with a pale green veneer.'

And a spokeswoman for the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England said the standards should be that far fewer than 50 per cent of journeys should be by car.

The scheme, which aims to deliver around 10 towns of 5,000 to 20,000 homes which are zero-carbon overall, has attracted protests from local people unhappy with plans for their areas.

And one local group - the Bard campaign against a proposed development near Stratford upon Avon - has already applied for a judicial review of the consultation process.