Letter to Minister against eco-town

9:20am Wednesday 14th May 2008

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CAMPAIGNERS against proposals to build an eco-town on a site near three villages in Selby district have urged residents to send a letter to a Government Minister asking that the bid be withdrawn.

Selby District councillors John and Mary McCartney, who both represent Eggbrough, are leading the battle against GMI's proposals for a 15,000-home eco-town.

The new community would be built near Eggbrough, Kellington and Beal.

At a packed public meeting in Kellington Village Hall last night, Coun John McCartney called on residents to sign and send a letter to Housing Minister Caroline Flint asking for the bid for the town - dubbed Willow Green - to be abandoned.

He said: "The message we have to try and get over to Ms Flint now is that we think this site is unsustainable.

"We have to make sure we keep that campaign going."

He said the letter would get the message across.

Nigel Adams, the Conservative Parliamentary candidate for Selby and Ainsty, said money should instead be invested into making existing houses more sustainable. He said: "I think you should continue to get behind (John and Mary) and create as much noise as possible."

His words were met with a round of applause from the audience.

One woman in the audience said that, while she agreed with the principle of an eco-town, Willow Green would not reduce the carbon footprint.

She said: "It's impossible to increase the rail network, so thereby most of the people in that supposed eco-town are going to use the roads - they're going to jam up the M62 and the carbon footprint of that just doesn't make it eco-friendly."

Campaigners say the town would not be sustainable, as they fear its residents would commute to places outside the development to work, because there would not be enough jobs for them at Willow Green.

They say the local railway line - which they believe the eco-town's residents would use to transport themselves to those places of work - is at full stretch, and its capacity cannot be increased.

The campaigners say this would mean the commuters would then travel by road, a move they fear would clog up the M62.