New group to fight eco-town plan

A new cross-party protest group has been set up to oppose plans for an "eco-town" in Leicestershire.

Co-operative Estates has put forward plans for a 15,000-home development in Pennbury as part of a government scheme for 10 carbon-neutral settlements.

But the new Pennbury Transparency Group, made up of Conservative, Green Party and Lib Dem councillors, said the plans had not been fully explained.

The Co-op said detailed plans were available on its website.

Green Party Leader Matt Follett said he was not convinced the plans were fully "environmentally sustainable".

Questions raised

"If this happens, it will impact on the city [Leicester] in all sorts of ways - transport, health, education.

"What we're worried about is the government is putting on a lot of pressure to make this go through for political reasons.

"We, as an opposition group, can stand separately from that and it gives us the ability to ask the hard questions the public deserves."

Knighton Conservative Councillor Ross Grant said: "We want to see more details from the Co-operative and what plans there are to minimise the impact on the city centre.

"We've heard talk about trams but so far all we've been promised is a small bus route which really isn't enough to make something environmentally sustainable if there are going to be a lot of people travelling between the development and the city which would undoubtedly happen."

Plans for the development have been on display at various locations in the county and a decision from the government about the location of the "eco-towns" is expected in October.