Marston Vale eco-town plans on tour

1. Tom Cahill Says:
   September 20th, 2008 at 6:58 pm

   I am a resident of Marston Moreteyne and have attended a O&H roadshow. I can assure you that it is not, in any way, part of a consultation process. It fails even to state how many homes are to be built. It envisages a “tapestry of blue and green” (err we already have one), convienently neglecting to mention buildings. To cap it all it says nothing about how “eco” the whole project will be. This whole nonsense should stop immediately. We, in Marston Moretaine, are very much in favour of “green living”. Paradoxically that is why we are against this half baked notion of an “eco” town.

2. John Andel Says:
   October 23rd, 2008 at 6:26 pm

   I totally agree with Tom. the eco town concept is fundamentally flawed and tagging the prefix “eco” is no more than a cynical attempt to make the unacceptable appear palatable. Any decision to proceed with the proposed new development would represent a high degree of arrogance on the part of the government in ignoring the wishes of local communities. This arrogance has already resulted in the government paying a price in recent elections. I am sure that these electoral experiences will be repeated many times over if the government does not start listening to people and responding to their wishes instead of trying to force through pet projects

3. Tom Cahill Says:
   November 8th, 2008 at 6:35 pm

   Thank you to John for his support and for recognising the “eco” con that is going on. Round 2 of the “consultation” process has just taken place today. The Dept of Commmunities and Local Government has set up a portakabin outside the Marston Vale Forest Centre purporting to give local people the chance to have their say on the proposed eco-town. Sadly no one from the said government dept was in attendance. Instead they have hired a consultancy firm called Scott Wilson to take the flak from locals. The questionaire handed out (where we get to have our say) asked “How green would you like to be?” One was tempted to write; Duhh very! That’s why we want to protect all these wonderful fields around us, you brainless tw*t. But I didn’t as I was reluctant to lower the tone of the “Consultation Process”. Oh and by the way, no residents in any of the many villages of Marston Vale had be directly notified that this event was taking place today nor the local media. Indeed the local district council, who oppose the project, were themselves given only 4 days notice. Still, what do the opinions of local residents amount to? This will get approved and, I quote from their leaflet, the “rich tapestry of blue and green” envisaged by the developer (O and H Properties) will eventually be built here on the existing rich tapestry of err.. blue and green we already have. Are we missing something?

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