Intelligence/

The Eco-town Challenge Panel which consists of fifteen experts on design, the environment, transport and sustainability, have been charged with reviewing the eco-town proposals and encouraging developers to meet the highest standards of sustainable development, to ensure they can be regarded as exemplary projects.

During the first session of the Eco-town Challenge, the Panel met with every eco-town promoter, and representatives of local authorities for the majority of proposed eco-town locations.

The Panel has now published its initial recommendations, some of which apply to all of the eco-town promotions, and some to specific schemes. General recommendations include:

• Describing a ‘day in the life’ of an eco-town household in 2020
• Confirming the vision ownership for the eco-town and mechanisms to control development
• Showing a strategy for functional green infrastructure
• Ensuring the provision of public services is acceptable to local agencies
• Illustrating the ways in which eco-town residents can reduce their carbon footprints
• Assessing the viability of the town to become self-sufficient in various ways
• Considering ways of increasing the variety of housing tenure and development methods
• Identifying ways to share lessons learnt from eco-town development
• Setting out key milestones and detailing the resulting step change in urban development standards
• Examining potential risks such as changes in oil prices and climate
• Providing more clarity on how the transport strategy will reduce fossil fuel-based travel

Comments on the specific schemes include praise for the vision and commitment of the promoters so far, but also push for even greater ambition and innovation.

The Panel will meet again to discuss work in progress in July.

The report can be accessed here.