Eco-towns will be out of date by time they are built - Öpik

9.14.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Sun 27th Jul 2008

The Government today announced that homes in eco-towns must achieve the environmental target of level four of the Code for Sustainable Homes, despite the fact that all new housing is to reach the stricter target of level six by 2016. Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Housing Minister, Lembit Öpik said: "There's surely some mistake here. This means that eco-towns could be less environmentally friendly than normal towns. Instead of setting challenging environmental standards, eco-towns will be out of date by the time they are even built."

"The Government has swapped its vision of cutting edge developments for bog-standard homes with a pale green veneer."