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Northstowe short-listed as an eco-town
Local authorities in Cambridgeshire have welcomed news from Housing Minister, John Healey, that Northstowe has been short-listed in the second wave of eco-town proposals.
The announcement, made on Tuesday 1st December 2009, is a response to proposals put jointly to Government by Cambridgeshire Horizons, Cambridgeshire County Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council, and lists Northstowe as one of the "potential second wave eco-towns proposals" due to the "opportunity to redesign elements of the existing project(s) to meet even higher sustainability standards". The second wave of eco-towns stand to share up to £10 million worth of funding to help deliver the highest standards of sustainability. Of this funding Northstowe has been awarded £1.5m. This money will be used to help investigate ways of ensuring that Northstowe meets Eco-Town standards as well as delivering two capital projects. The first of these will be a retrofit project in Rampton Drift, the second the building of an exhibition space on the park and ride site which will showcase environmental technologies.
Work continues on Northstowe project
Following on from a statement issued by the Northstowe Delivery Board in November 2008 to announce a delay in the submission of amendments to the planning application for Northstowe, the Board wishes to update the situation. Work is still continuing on plans for Northstowe - the proposed new town of 9,500 homes located North West of Cambridge - in particular on drainage and renewable energy.
All partners remain committed to working together closely to deliver a sustainable new town that will help meet the needs of the growing population of Cambridgeshire. The Joint Promoters are in discussions about how best to move the project forward, and it is anticipated that revisions to the planning application will be submitted in the coming months.
Cambridgeshire Horizons, and its partners, are working with Renewables East to research which forms of renewable energy provision would be best for Northstowe.
Cambridgeshire Horizons is already funding a number of projects through the Government's Housing Growth Fund that will feed into the development of Northstowe. These include projects to improve countryside access, extend cycle networks in the surrounding area, and research into the viability of a site wide renewable energy solution, and provision of an IT infrastructure fit for the 21st century.
Cambridgeshire County Council have recently granted conditional approval to the Ely Diocesan Board of Education to establish the first primary school, and to Swavesey Village College Educational Trust (now known as the Cambridge Meridian Education Trust) to establish the first secondary school.