Weston Otmoor

It would have been next to Junction 9 of the M40 motorway and 7 miles (11 km) north of Oxford and was one of 15 bids shortlisted by the Department of Communities and Local Government on 3 April 2008.

An eco-town feature was to be the transport system:[citation needed] Small schools were to be located throughout the town and will be a focus of the urban architecture.

This renders an objective assessment of whether the proposal meets eco-town exemplary transport criteria impossible and the ongoing government consultation meaningless.

It seemed therefore highly likely the proposal would break the eco-town rules for sustainability and for exemplary design[5] given the existing levels of road congestion at the site.

Bicester suffers from lack of infrastructure, limited social and community facilities, and a town centre that is in dire need of development.

Increased water run-off will flood the village of Islip and Otmoor, an RSPB nature reserve and area of semi-wetland.

Prevailing winds will carry any particulate fallout and pollutants from the proposed power station (NW corner of site) over Bicester.

Currently the villages of Wendlebury, Chesterton, Islip and Woodeaton suffer increasing traffic due to the establishment of a 'rat run' with motorists avoiding the heavily congested A34/A41.

He regards these developments as experimental and aims "not to create ring-fenced ghettos but to focus on the social and physical relationships between Hab projects and the wider community".

One of the few benefits for low-income families of living in a large city is that many facilities, often free of charge or discounted, are on their doorstep or a short bus ride away.

The bias towards low-income households, the elimination of cars and the lack of facilities appear designed to increase the deprivation of already disadvantaged families and to contain them in a rural ghetto.