If you really wanted to know what Eco towns are about it's not yet been decided so you now have chance to influence it.

I know there's been a lot of interest in this on the forum so nows your chance to let the government know what you think - any thing you think they've missed or needs toughening up - well you have chance to reply. By the 30th of June.

If you've never responded to a consultation before - don't worry if your not some big wig in housing - submissions from individuals are treated equally as valid. What they are looking for is good ideas that could become national policy ;-) You can reply to as many or as few questions as you like. Given the importance of this policy I think anyone with an interest in green builing should put some words together.

Anyway here's the link to the CLG site...

http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/housing/ecotownsgreenerfuture

The questions are inline in the document. A good starting point is to copy and paste them into a new document.

One thing I do know - the more people say the same thing the more likely it is to get picked up by those reading the documents - so if you have some really good ideas post them on here, and maybe a few of us will include them in our own submissions. Actually - mine will be going via a lobby group I'm already involved in, but as the saying goes - if you don't ask you don't get.

It's of particular interest to me as Curborough - one of the shortlisted sites is 2 miles from my house. I'm not against Eco towns in principle - but to call them an Eco town I'd like to see a lot more measures taken than that proposed for Curborough. Specifically I want to address transport as the current proposal is a bit light on how they'll stop the place becoming another commuter town for Birmingham and how the development will not impact the local environment.

Simon.