Eco Town

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Eco Town

The Government have named North West Bicester as one of the new eco town locations in the eco towns Planning Policy Statement (PPS)

Eco-towns are described as small new towns of at least 5-20,000 homes designed to achieve zero carbon development and more sustainable living using the best new design and architecture.

Cherwell District Council promoted North West Bicester to Government because they believe that the building of an exemplar eco town in this location offers an opportunity to re-position Bicester as a place where new communities are built to high environmental standards and where people across the town can enjoy more sustainable lifestyles built on features such as first rate public transport and zero carbon technologies.

The scheme for a larger, freestanding, ecotown at Weston on the Green (Weston Otmoor) was rejected by the Government. Bicester Vision, Cherwell District Council and many others opposed Weston Otmoor from the start because of the threat it would have posed to the future vitality and viability of Bicester and the adverse impact on the surrounding environment.

Ten Point Plan

In promoting NW Bicester, Cherwell District Council placed some caveats on their support, summarised in the Ten Point Plan for Bicester. For a copy of the 10 caveats that were made for North West Bicester click on the council’s document "Making NW Bicester a reality".

Making NW Bicester a Reality (PDF)

The Ten Point Plan looks for substantial 'Growth Point' funding for Bicester to help provide infrastructure improvements before NW Bicester is built. The Government has confirmed that funding is available for eco town locations. Like the other eco town locations we now need to make a bid to Government for a share of these funds and the district council will work with partners locally to develop their bid. We need to see that the final amount awarded to Bicester is in line with the council’s expectations of around £10m.

5000 homes over 30 years

It is worth bearing in mind that this development will take some time to create and the expectation is that the houses will be built over the next 30 years.

There are a number of useful documents available on Cherwell District Council’s website if you would like to find out more about the proposals for North West Bicester.

For more information please visit the Cherwell District Council's web site

rachel@bicestervision.co.uk