Can Cornwall accommodate more development using the eco-town model? At the time, the Core Strategy was seeking to accommodate up to between 38,000 and 58,000 homes over the next 20 years the Council is looking at whether there is mileage in eco-development being able to provide at least a proportion of this, above and beyond the current St Austell Eco-Town. I worked with a consultant team led by Roger Tym and Partners (now part of Peter Brett Associates) on a short feasibility study examining the availability of sites in the Duchy that can accommodate this type of development and assessing their suitability. We are developing an assessment method that uses the principles behind eco-towns as part of the feasibility study.
I am particularly interested in the potential of getting the right sustainable location for sites and for how Green Infrastructure is integrated in any future development (with all the knock-on benefits this can have on biodiversity, water management, renewables, play provision, movement etc). There is a need too for places to be chosen in a way that involves communities and that shows a wider contribution to both jobs/prosperity and to the environment. The principles of high design quality and light ecological footprint are essential to fulfil the ‘Future Cornwall’ long term objectives, so is the need for such development to happen in the right place and at the right price. Hard choices will be involved I am sure.
The study team is led by Peter Brett Associates LLP trading as Roger Tym and Partners and includes Sandover Associates with David Orr Consulting, Bio Regional, Mott MacDonald and Alder King.