FORD ECO-TOWN: Discussions urged with government

Arun District Council chief executive has written to Ms Flint, the housing minister, on behalf of council leader Cllr Gill Brown to call for the discussion.

There has been no face-to-face contact between the council and the government during the preliminary debate about the prospect of an eco-town being built on part of the former airfield.

Ms Flint's decision Ford should be included among the ten shortlisted sites for the large developments was announced in a letter to the council.

Mr Sumnall told Ms Flint the council had 13 questions about the eco-town which it wanted answered.

These included whether the two separate schemes for the Ford eco-town would be assessed separately or be joined together to create a town of 10,000 homes.

His letter also asked if any extra money and resources would be provided by the government to help the district council cope with the inevitable strains of such a massive development.

"No-one is really sure exactly what an eco-town is or how it will be implemented, as nothing quite like this has ever happened before in the history of planning in this country," said Mr Sumnall.

"As the local planning authority, we are used to having responsibility for all developments for our district.

"But the eco-town decision has been taken out of our hands.

"We also need clear guidance on whether or not we have a say in what could be the biggest single development Arun has ever seen.

"We are particularly concerned at how a site which our planning officers found unsuitable for this kind of development using the government's own planning policies has been shortlisted by someone outside of the district without local knowledge or any kind of consultation with us."