Government faces eco-town challenge

The government's controversial plans to build 10 eco-towns could be the subject of a legal challenge by the Local Government Association (LGA).

Paul Bettison, chairman of the environment board at the LGA explained that due to the by-passing of regular planning procedures, his organisation was worried that the views of local people would not be adequately considered.

Consequently, the LGA said on Wednesday that the eco-town proposals were open to judicial review for their flouting of normal planning guidelines and denounced the plans as "deeply flawed".

Bettison told the BBC: "The normal process of planning is that local people decide what the future of an area should be and what sort of development should take place there.

"Having established a vision for the future, they should set about using planning permission to actually develop the sorts of things that they want under the plan."

The government's proposals for eco-towns will be published on Thursday, laying out the intricacies which are set to include restrictions on homeowners' travel arrangements, whereby just one person in each household can drive to work.

The LGA's announcement comes on the same day it was disclosed that householders in the eco-towns would face service charges on top of their council tax bill amounting to more than £500 for subsidised bus travel.

Liberal Democrat local government spokesman Julia Goldsworthy said: "Not only is Gordon Brown's pet eco-towns project facing opposition from residents and councils up and down the country, but now we learn that legal challenges are also likely.

"This must sound the death knell for the attempt to bypass the local planning process and local public opinion."