Mark Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, who the sponsors are of the housing growth and eco-towns regional seminars arranged by her Department and the Town and Country Planning Association; whether any of the sponsors are potential developers of eco-towns; and what guidelines she has issued over potential conflicts of interest between her Department and the Town and Country Planning association and potential eco-town developers.
Ms Caroline Flint: The Town & Country Planning Association (TCPA) is arranging a series of regional seminars on eco-towns and the promotion of good practice in planning for sustainability in these and similar schemes with support from my Department and i understand a number of other public and private organisations. These events are open to all and are concerned with general principles and good practice, not individual site based proposals.
To manage potential conflucts of interest the TCPA has ensured a broad range of partners are engaged in the seminar series from the public and the private sectors and a protocol of roles and responsibilities between TCPA and Communities & Local Government has been drawn up and is publicly available on the TCPA website.
The TCPA's role on eco-towns is to advise on the practical application of the key sustainability and development criteria for schemes and they are not invovled in the process of assessing bids and selecting schemes.
Mark Oaten