Minister admits delays on final decision

Ms Flint, the government's housing minister, said the announced deadline of October for the sites to be selected would be slipping until December or even next January.

She also stressed it had never been stated by her there would be exactly ten sites finally selected.

Her admission that more work needed to be done on the initial proposals for the 15 shortlisted sites, which include Ford Airfield, pleased the Community Against Ford Eco-Town (CAFE) members.

Two of them, Vicky Newman and Terry Knott, met Ms Flint for 35 minutes in a House of Commons committee room on Monday.

They were joined by representatives of seven other protest groups who staged a combined rally outside Parliament.

Ms Newman said: "Ms Flint came into the meeting with a smile on her face and left without one.

"She did have the sense of being cornered. She is in a difficult position. The strength of the proposals put forward are weak and lack a lot of detail.

"But eco-towns are a key government policy. They were one of Gordon Brown's key announcements so she is going to be very protective and very keen to demonstrate it is fair and democratic and is the right direction to take."

Ms Newman said that argument was flawed because the quality of the submissions for Ford showed they were merely a housing estate with a green veneer.

"There are not the cutting-edge technology and innovative proposals that the government was looking for," she said.

Ms Flint gave the protestors an assurance the government would not railroad through the eco-town plans against the normal planning system.

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However, there is the prospect of a planning policy statement from the government about eco-towns over-riding the land use guidelines of councils like Arun District Council.

The meeting with Ms Flint was one part of a day-long protest by CAFE.

A coachload of 46 members travelled by coach from Yapton to London.

A few other members joined them there.

A rally outside parliament was followed by a panel discussion in the Commons led by shadow housing minister Grant Shapps.