Consultants predict end of eco-towns

The Budget included a £400 million package to kickstart stalled developments but set aside just £100 million for new build housing built to high-quality environmental standards, all of which would be allocated to councils.

Rebecca Bennett Casserly, head of residential affordable at EC Harris, acknowledged that the Budget included a £1 billion stimulus package to tackle carbon reduction.

But she said it was ‘uncertain’ how much of that would impact directly on housing.

‘It does feel like Labour’s eco-town initiative has finally bitten the dust and turned into a meagre £100 million council-led building programme’, she added.

Ms Bennett Casserly said that the £80 million allocated in the Budget to Homebuy Direct was likely to support the purchase of 4,000 homes. She said that this was ‘not enough in our view’.

She added that the Homes and Communities Agency had been the big winners on the day: ‘Its three main business drivers were dominant in Darling’s Budget, namely: housing delivery; employment and training and environmental sustainability.’

The Communities and Local Government department denied the eco-town claim. In a statement it said: ‘We expect the majority of eco-town costs to be met by private developers. Public funding could also be available - for instance for delivering any large infrastructure - from the existing Growth Fund, which was not affected by the Budget.”

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