Pledge to residentsin eco-town battle

Landowner Rod Hague has told Ford's residents they would be fully consulted if his plans for a new town get the go-ahead.

Mr Hague is among three site owners seeking to develop 300 hectares based around Ford Airfield.

The location extends northwards to the railway line and fills much of the current gap between Ford and Yapton.

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Their latest plan for a 5,000-home eco town is set to be determined by the government soon.

The Department for Communities and Local Government is due to announce a shortlist in February of the most promising sites for a sustainable development.

More than 50 hopefuls have been submitted. Just ten are likely to survive the initial cull.

The proposals of the Ford Airfield Vision Group, as the landowners have called themselves, have been worked up into an application document.

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They have joined with builders Wates and Redrow Homes to deliver the overall package.

But Mr Hague said claims that the eco town, if it was given the government's backing, would be extra to the Arun district's housing target were wrong.

It was intended a planning application for the eco town would need to be submitted for Arun District Council to consider in the same way as every other application.

It was not a case of riding rough shod over the usual planning system.

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The difference with an eco town was its emphasis on '˜green' issues.

For this reason, Ford was an ideal location, he claimed.

The railway station on the West Coastway line offered excellent connections. This would be moved into the eco town and modernised.

Bus links would be created by linking into the proposed Fastway service along the Sussex coast.

The presence on the airfield of Southern Water's wastewater treatment works and the new materials recycling centre also offered the prospect of generating heat from waste.

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Being on the spot made power generation more efficient than having it carried miles from power stations, he stated.

New schools and jobs will be created in the development with four out of ten homes intended to be for social housing.

Mr Hague said the vision group wanted to talk to nearby residents if the scheme was backed by the government.

'Let's have a proper discussion so everyone knows what is going to happen in the development and can have a say in it.

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'There's no point having those talks at the moment because it is too early in the process.

'But we don't want it to be a case of buildings in the scheme ending up in a location without local people having a say.

'We want to design the eco town so it works for everyone.

'This is only a broad concept so far and we will be asking people to tell us how that can deliver benefits to everyone,' said Mr Hague.

The eco-town proposals have been created from a 3,000 homes plan put forward for Arun to consider among the sites which could be suitable for new housing in the next decade.

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A rival eco-town scheme, the Ford Enterprise Hub, has also submitted plans to the government, as reported.

Arun has fiercely opposed the eco-town concept because of fears it will increase even further the number of homes which the district has to accommodate west of the River Arun and the strain it will place on existing roads.

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