FORD ECO-TOWN: Government attacked over 'misleading propaganda'

The attack came as Arun District Council's members agreed their final protests against the plans to the government.

As reported, the emphasis in the comments is on the inability of the roads around Ford to cope with any extra traffic from the intended 5,000 homes and the fact the proposed development could wreck any chance of regeneration for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton.

The idea that waste could be used to generate power from a plant in the eco-town is also rubbished along with the idea that its residents could be persuaded to forsake their cars.

The council's latest response during the government's final consultations maintains the strong opposition from its original stance last year.

The short debate at a council meeting was watched by a handful of Communities Against Ford Eco-town campaign members.

Cllr Ricky Bower, in charge of Arun's planning services, told the meeting: "The proposal of an eco-town is a disaster for the Arun district."

The facts about the scheme were being fitted to suit the government's purposes, he said, outside the usual planning system. He said that increased environmental standards for future housing in general meant the eco-town concept was already outdated.

Cllr Dr James Walsh (Lib Dem, Littlehampton Beach) said the government's B rating of Ford as a potential eco-town location was based on inaccurate information.

"It is deliberately misleading propaganda. We have to make sure we don't get a ghastly new town imposed on Ford on the spurious grounds of calling it an eco-town."

Cllr Graham Tyler (Con, Rustington East) who led Arun's investigation into the eco-town idea, said the council had worked hard to point out the inaccuracies in the information published by the government.

"We really feel it has been very, very misleading on their part," he stressed.

The government is expected to make its final decision about eco-town locations in the coming months.

West Sussex County Council has reinforced its opposition to the Ford eco-town proposals to the government.

It used the latest consultation by the government to say it was against the scheme in general and had continuing concerns about significant aspects of the Ford proposal.

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