Eco-town plans attacked over public transport links. The Guardian

Choice of sites put on a shortlist to be England's first ecotowns has been strongly criticised

One site is dismissed as looking like "a typical commercial scheme", and several will need to significantly improve their plans, a report will make clear today.

Other schemes that have aroused strong local opposition - including Middle Quinton, near Stratford-upon-Avon; Weston Otmoor in Oxfordshire; and Hanley Grange in Cambridgeshire - get more promising verdicts on progress from a group picked by ministers to be "critical friends" to developers competing for the five to 10 schemes to be chosen as eco-towns later this year.

The proposal for Middle Quinton, strongly opposed by actors Dame Judi Dench and John Nettles, and possibly the subject of a legal challenge by protesters, is commended for an aim of 100% recycling and no waste to landfill, although transport is considered to be a problem.

The report from the 15-member panel, which includes Red or Dead founder Wayne Hemingway and the TV presenters Kris Murrin and Joanna Yarrow, will be seized on by opponents for falling short on zero-carbon, car-curbing and local employment aims.

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