FORD ECO-TOWN: Minister keeping an 'open mind' over Ford

Ms Flint visited the site of the proposed development at Ford Airfield last week.

She saw the area on which 5,000 homes could be built along with business premises and community facilities.

She looked at the airfield location before she spent two hours in talks with supporters and opponents of the major scheme.

The discussions took place at Yapton Village Hall just a short walk from part of the proposed development site.

Ms Flint emerged from the intense discussions to assure protesters she had issued standards on issues such as transport, affordable housing and the environment for eco-towns.

As part of this, she ruled that green spaces must make up 40 per cent of the settlements. These policies would see the locations meet the high standards she wanted to see in eco-towns.

"Whether or not Ford is up to that is a decision yet to be made. There are no done deals on any of the sites," she said.

"In this particular locality, people are against an eco-town but I also have to address different needs in the community as well. Sometimes, this is a silent voice which is not heard."

But she declared eco-towns were vital to the country's future. They were needed because too few houses had been built in the past three decades and people's current ways of life had to change.

"Grandchildren of people in the community can't afford to rent or buy in the area. Whether or not eco-towns can be delivered to help meet that need is a challenge," she stated.

"Another challenge that we have to face up to is climate change. Eco-towns are about the way of life we should be living in 2050. We need to reduce the reliance on the car.

"Eco-towns are about much more than residential development. They are about providing jobs as well."

This integrated development also applied to providing community facilities.

Too often, she claimed, the services residents of new housing required were only available years after they had moved in, which caused people to have to use their cars to go elsewhere.

Ms Flint proposes that ten eco-towns should be built around the country by 2020. The first, she hopes, will be finished in 2016.

She is expected to announce her decision about the chosen locations early next year.

Ms Flint's short time in Yapton was watched by about a dozen protesters, some with placards, from the Communities Against Ford Eco-Town campaign group gathered outside the village hall.