Social needs such as affordable housing can be addressed alongside economic and environmental issues through the planning of new eco-town developments, the Town and Country Planning Association has asserted.According to Gideon Amos, chief executive of the association, eco-towns may be most effective when coupled with plans for sustainable public transport, particularly as the majority of car journeys are made in addition to commuting to and from work."The eco-towns initiative provides the opportunity to marry the social need for more affordable housing and community infrastructure with … sustainable public transport, protection of biodiversity and low and zero-carbon energy provision," he said.He added that the association's Eco-Towns report found the ideal size of a low-carbon housing development to be around 5,000 dwellings, which is the size necessary to support a secondary school.The government has pledged to build a total of three million new homes and ten eco-towns across the UK by 2020.
