Broadland District Council have been so keen to rush though their plans for the proposed Rackheath Eco-town that they have yet to prove that water suppies can be delivered sustainably (see today's Eastern Daily Press). BDC must now complete a water cycle study before the end of the year if they are to meet their own target of getting a planning appplication in by the end of 2010. However, water cycle surveys generally take 18 months to complete so BDC have a major problem ahead of them. See full EDP report.
The water issue has long been an argument against the building of the eco-town but BDC have arrogantly dismissed opponents' views on this in the same way threy have dismissed all other concerns. In the same issue the EDP printed an impassioned letter from long-term campaigner, Sarah Eglington, who also highlighted the water sustainability problem.
But the final coup was in the EDP's own comment column in which they too picked up on the point that we have a serious water shortage problem in East Anglia and said a rush to secure outline planning permission by the end of the year "rings alarm bells". They added that critics fear " the proposed eco-town is really an ecommuter-town of high-density housing and low-level local services - a profitable development hiding behind a trendy and ill-warranted label proposed for a rural area where Labour has few votes to lose". They concluded that clinching the proposed Rackheath development this year will be "the wrong time. And...almost certainly the wrong place too"
Thank goodness for the EDP and at last the truth is out. The unwanted Rackheath Ecotown is in the wrong place and in the wrong time. Will Broadland .D.C. wake up now and listen to their electors and not their Developer friends.
ReplyDeleteThey are beginning to look like fools! It is ludicrous that a proper water cycle study has not been done prior to them spending millions of pounds which could have been better spent on local funding for charities who are much more deserving.
ReplyDelete