Liberal Democrats in Broadland call for Rackheath 'Eco-town' to be scrapped as funding is far lower than the bid (Broadland Liberal Democrats)

Broadland Liberal Democrats <info@broadlandlibdems.org.uk>

Liberal Democrats in Broadland call for Rackheath 'Eco-town' to be scrapped as funding is far lower than the bid

February 9, 2010 8:00 AM

Liberal Democrats in Broadland have made further calls for the Rackheath 'Eco-town' to be scrapped after it emerged that the funding allocated to the project from central government is far lower than the bid which Broadland District Council submitted last year.

Rackheath has been guaranteed less than £12million, which is far short of the £28million (approx.) which the council asked for. This has led to fears that it will be the infrastructure which will be hit first and hardest, further endangering the quality of life of existing residents. Dan Roper, who will contest the Broadland parliamentary constituency for the Lib Dems at this year's general election, said: "This has confirmed all of our worst fears. The infrastructure projects which featured among the reasons for the bid for central government money look set to miss out, and this could lead to untold misery for people already living in the Rackheath area."

This comes after it emerged that the standards of the first houses to be built, starting next year, will be two grades lower on the government's environmental scale than the mandatory level for the rest of the project. James Joyce, leader of the Lib Dem group on Broadland District Council, said that this showed that standards were slipping and that the end product would be just another massive housing estate which would be isolated from public services and infrastructure. He said: "It is crazy that the houses will not even be built to the highest possible standard. How anybody can label this scheme environmentally-friendly is beyond belief - it should be scrapped immediately and replaced with more sustainable methods of integrating new housing into existing communities."

Ben McGilvray, Broadland District Councillor for Rackheath, said that the first 200 houses, which are planned for next year, are a particular concern as they will be isolated from the community and add additional strain onto local infrastructure. He said: "It is a massive worry that 200 houses will be built with no promise of infrastructure for another 4 years. The local schools, GPs' surgeries and dentists are all overwhelmed and there is no prospect of any improvement on any of these fronts. With no new infrastructure planned until 2016, the cries of 'no housing without infrastructure' look especially hollow."

Ben McGivray with Dan Roper

With the local Conservatives continuing to appear to ignore local residents, the local Lib Dems have vowed to continue the campaign against the 'eco-town' alongside local residents and community group SNUB. Dan Roper added: "The lack of local support from local residents is clear. I welcome any input from local people on this and other issues."