Breed less, consume less and a possible Cotswold 'eco-town'

In advance of the Green Party conference, the BBC's Westminster Hour on Sunday spoke to the Greens' South of England MEP, Dr Caroline Lucas (not sure how long they save the recording for - usually only a week - transcript here).

Photo: Clare Sheriden, Green Parish councillor in Stonehouse with her home

After the SNJ doing an article on me saying that we should breed less and consume less it was interesting to hear Dr Lucas also speak on the subject of population control. She also talks too of the desirability of our eating less meat but good quality, animal friendly meat- and about farmers getting higher returns for good quality animal-welfare products.

Eco-towns

Caroline Lucas also spoke of her worry about the rush to build "eco-towns". Controversial plans for a string of eco-towns have sparked nationwide protests - the demonstrations against the developments have begun two weeks before Housing Minister Caroline Flint is due to announce the 10 locations she has chosen for the first "eco-towns" that could mean 20,000 homes plus services. One of those will apparently be "on the edge of the Cotswolds" but the location remains secret.

Like Caroline I am deeply suspicious about this government policy that seems to have been just brought out of a bag - they risk being a high profile gimmick which deflects attention from the much bigger job of actually retro-fitting our existing housing stock - 25 million existing homes that desperately need insulation, desperately need energy efficiency.

Greens also have some considerable concerns about the figure - Gordon Brown's stated policy is to build "three million new homes" - this seems extremely high - the first priority should be to bring existing housing stock into proper use. There are a lot of empty properties out there that need to be brought up to use. But of course we do need more housing. What we want to make sure is that the housing is where people need it.

The Council for the Protection of Rural England is also unconvinced and is asking the government to clarify how it will pick the 10 sites. Its planning expert, Kate Gordon, points out that, once the government has put its seal of approval on places, it will be far harder for local authorities to object and justify taking on expensive legal counsel to fight the plans. 'We support the idea of eco-towns, but they must be in the right place and developed in the right way. The most sustainable approach would be to regenerate existing quarters of old towns,' said Gordon.

The Wildlife Trusts are also dismayed at the lack of attention being given to ecology. Its chief executive, Stephanie Hilborne, said: 'The government's proposals make a mockery of the term '"eco-town". We need to see the planning system being used to avoid insensitive development and restore and create new wildlife habitats.'