Leeds City Region - Eco Towns and New Growth Points

Eco Towns and New Growth Points

The Leeds City Region was invited by the government to submit proposals for new eco-towns. However, the City Region Partnership has considered the case for a free-standing eco town and concluded that it would not offer the most appropriate, sustainable way forward for meeting the city region’s housing and affordable housing needs. After a study of the city region the Stockholm Environment Unit found the best way of reducing its carbon footprint by 80% by 2050 involved working within existing settlements and changing behaviour. The partnership considers that the city region’s housing and regeneration needs can be better served by delivering eco principles on a number of major regeneration sites within existing urban environments.

The partnership has proposed to Government four major brownfield regeneration sites as alternatives to an eco town in the city region. The proposed sites are:

• Aire Valley Leeds. A 1000-hectare site to the south east of the city centre. Up to 15,000 new homes, 7,000 refurbishments and 27,000 jobs.

• Bradford-Shipley Canal Corridor. Area of 118-hectares along five-mile stretch. Up to 5,000 new homes, 1,500 refurbishments and 5,900 jobs.

• York Northwest. On brown-field to the north and west of the station. Will deliver 4,300 new homes on 75-hectares of land and 5,000 jobs.

• North Kirklees / South Dewsbury Up to 4,000 new homes, 2,000 refurbishments and 5,000 jobs spread over four sites, Thornhill Lees, Savile Town, Ravensthorpe and Scout Hill.

Building work is only ready to start on one site, the Aire Valley scheme to the south east of Leeds city centre. The 1,000-hectare site has the potential to provide up to 15,000 eco homes, retrofit 7,000 existing homes and create 27,000 new jobs. Phase one will concentrate on the Hunslet Riverside area next to the Royal Armouries museum, where 2,500 new homes can be built. New trolleybuses and cycle paths will make travel to and from the area environmentally sustainable and cars will be discouraged.

Housing Minister, and Wentworth MP, John Healey announced in July 2009 that Yorkshire will receive £83m through the Homes and Communities Agency Kickstart programme, designed to fund housing schemes that had stalled in the recession, enough to build 2,088 homes.

The City Region made a successful bid for "New Growth Point" status in July 2008. The programme of New Growth Point developments supports delivery of 5000 additional new homes above regional housing targets. It is focussed within the district of Barnsley Calderdale and Wakefield across a range of tenures and including a variety of affordable homes for rent and owner occupation.The programme proposes 34,515 new homes, 5000 of which will be net additional over the period 2008 to 2016/17.