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Local government lawyers have accused the Government's planning policy on eco towns of being potentially unlawful. The CLG's second phase of consultation on their location and standards advises planning applications for eco towns will need to be submitted in the same way as any other major development proposal. But council leaders and opposition MPs remain sceptical this will happen. LGA chairman, Cllr Margaret Eaton, said: ‘It would be totally unacceptable for the Government to force through eco towns where they are not wanted. ‘Using a national planning policy statement to create bias towards a particular government scheme isn't just ill-advised, according to our lawyers. It may be unlawful.' Leading lawyers at the LGA have said the approach is open to legal challenge under both domestic and European law, and is in conflict with the basic principles of the planning system. Commenting on the statement, shadow Conservative minister for housing, Grant Shapps, called eco towns ‘eco cons'. ‘The Government is now intending to fiddle the whole planning process, by imposing Whitehall diktats on local councils, forcing them to accept these unsustainable new developments,' he said. Lib Dem housing spokeswoman Sarah Teather said: ‘Ministers are using their eco towns policy to hide their failure to demand proper environmental standards from all new developments.' But the latest stage of the process was welcomed by the housing charity Shelter, which said they would play ‘a vital part in delivering desperately-needed housing.' The consultation will be on 12 shortlisted locations: l Middle Quinton, Warwickshire/ Worcestershire l Newton-Bingham, Nottinghamshire l Ford, West Sussex l Bordon-Whitehill, Hampshire l St Austell, Cornwall l Rossington, South Yorkshire l North East Elsenham, Essex l Pennbury, Leicestershire l Marston Vale, Bedfordshire l North West Bicester, Oxfordshire

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WHITEHALL

Lawyers rattle sabres over eco towns' legality

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