Britain reveals shortlist for new "Eco-towns"

By Tim Castle

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - Proposed sites for the first new towns to be built in Britain since the 1960s already have some nearby villagers horrified by the prospect of an "eco-town" just beyond their green and pleasant gardens.

The British government has published a list of 15 potential sites across England where environmentally conscientious "eco-towns" could be built in an effort to tackle a national housing shortage while minimizing damage to the environment.

The candidates will be whittled down after local consultation over the next three months, with a final shortlist published later this year.

The British government wants to build five eco-towns by 2016 and up to 10 by 2020 as part of plans to build 3 million homes over the next 12 years.

Each site would provide between 5,000 and 15,000 low carbon homes, but the proposals are likely to run into stiff opposition from local residents near the proposed sites.

Each development would have to include high levels of affordable housing and show how they would provide public transport, schools and healthcare while safeguarding local wildlife.

The candidate sites made significant use of previously developed land including former military depots, disused airfields, former mining pits and old industrial sites, the government said.

The father of British tennis star Tim Henman told BBC television that his local community was opposed to a site on the list near his Oxfordshire village of Weston Otmoor.