May 2007
Green Party Principal Speaker Dr. Derek Wall, amongst others, has pooh-poohed Gordon Brown's idea to build 10 eco-towns. Rather than do this, Greens should hijack (well, support) the plan and make sure that the towns ARE built and that they are not only carbon-neutral, microgenerating and food-self-sufficient but also that they are car-free, and invalid addresses for even registering a car.
People are criticising Brown for being boring and idealess. With this announcement, he is at least showing some initiative. We should pick up gold wherever we find it; there's not much point waiting <ahem> a number of years, for a Green Party government before Greens can support any green government initiatives!
The towns should actually be larger, have free light rail light and on their periphery have industrial areas, intercity rail, and car parks/hire. The new Brown government can prove itself capable of new directions by hiring J. H. Crawford as overall planning consultant. J. H. Crawford is author of of CARFREE CITIES and carfree.com.
