Labour/Tory/Coalition? Does it really matter? But who is pulling the strings?

"There are 15 local authorities and partnerships leading eco-development and eco-town projects. These projects are at different stages and are subject to local planning decisions and community discussions on whether they are the right locations for eco-developments.

The first potential locations for eco-towns are:

• North West Bicester
• St Austell
• Whitehill-Bordon
• Rackheath"

So says the government website DirectGov  about eco-towns - very little has changed on these pages since the coalition took over which seems rather odd given the Tories' views on Gordon Brown's eco-towns prior to Labour losing the election. Mention of community involvement is always made but we have now learned that this is meaningless regardless of political party.

So what, or should we say who, is pressing ahead with these developments? And why? A HUGE amount of money has already been spent by developers and local councils who all have vested interests in the success of these proposals but who is at the helm? Civil Servants at national level and officers at local level seem to be able to brandish power far greater than anyone would imagine and they are not accountable so they can keep going regardless of which political party is supposedly in power. So who are these faceless beaurocrats and what is their motivation?