Town halls and developers have been asked to bid cash for five new eco-towns where all infrastructure and houses will be carbon neutral.

The small stand-alone settlements, each containing 5,000 to 20,000 homes will be expected to have good transport links with existing towns or cities. In contrast to the high-density apartments and small units expected in other areas of the country, the new towns will have gardens, green spaces and good quality family houses rather than apartments.

They are also expected to have between 30 and 50 per cent affordable housing with a mix of private, social and rented accommodation. Within the towns, shops, primary and secondary schools will all be in walking distance in an effort to reduce carbon emisssions.

The houses will be built using timber, solar thermal panels, double glazing, insulation and biomass boilers that do not use fossil fuels.

Good houses don’t just happen at the click of a Prime Minister’s fingers - they will take time

Background

• Comment: The housing shortage

• A new property map of England

• What a decade brought

• Red tape to be cut for home extensions

• Brown to build five eco towns

Comment: The housing shortage

Government statistics, not a byword for reliability, must not be the only proof that homes are needed

Related Links

• £8bn homes pledge

• Now it’s up to local councils to do the hard work

But property developers have warned that zero-carbon homes will be up to £40,000 more expensive to build than traditional homes and expect land prices to be cheaper where they are built.

The Green Paper makes clear that if necessary the Government will intervene and impose the new settlements if councils fail to come forward with their own proposals. Ministers can invoke the New Towns Act 1981 which allows them to lay compulsory purchase orders to acquire land.

One eco-town is already being build in Northstowe, north of Cambridge, and ministers are expecting proposals from authorities near Bristol and Peterborough.

Announcing the new eco-towns in a Commons statement, Yvette Cooper the Housing Minister, said: “Our new homes must be part of well-designed and mixed communities with excellent local facilities and that means more family homes, as well as parks and green spaces. With the urgent challenge of climate change, they must be greener homes, built to the highest environmental standards.”

Gordon Brown has said that all new houses have to be carbon neutral by 2016 and he has set ambitious targets for low-carbon homes before then. However, enviromentalists urged him to go faster.

A spokesman for Friends of the Earth said: “The Government must insist that all new homes are carbon neutral by at least 2010. Our homes are responsible for over a quarter of UK carbon dioxide emissions. Carbon-zero homes can already be built so there is no not need to wait until 2016 for the Government to act on this.

“Individual homes must meet the highest environmental standards, and new housing developments must be sustainable. This means ensuring that new developments have clear plans for water supply, waste disposal and protection from flooding caused by extreme weather events. Local communities must also have a say on how and where new houses are built.”

Mr Brown heralded eco-towns as one of the big ideas of his leadership campaign in an attempt to “outgreen” David Cameron.

In the Budget he also announced stamp duty exemptions for buyers of eco-homes. Yesterday’s Green Paper says that the Government will try out a new “design test” with councils and developers to achieve the highest quality and remove poor schemes from the system.

A government-led design competition is expected to improve architectural standards in the eco towns.

Brick by brick

45,000 The number of new social homes to be built each year by local authorities to be rented out

£2bn What has been already been set aside to improve existing social housing

25,000 Shared-ownership homes to be built each year through providers such as housing associations

17.5% What key workers and first-time buyers will be able to borrow from the Government to top up any open-market mortgage

2,500 The number of acres of Highways Agency and former British Rail land to be made available for new homes

6 The number of sites owned by the Ministry of Defence where 7,000 homes can be built. The first two will be Aldershot and Chichester

45 The number of towns and cities that have already volunteered to provide more homes over the next decade

£300m What will be put into a community infrastructure fund which will be shared out among local councils