Ford 'Eco-Town'

Nick has been an active and strong supporter of the campaign to oppose plans to build an ‘eco-town' of 5,000 houses at Ford.

The community campaign was launched in 2008 when local residents of Ford, Yapton, Climping, Walberton, Barnham and Arundel came together to form Communities Against Ford Eco-Town (CAFE).

Nick and CAFE have argued that Ford was the wrong location for an eco-town, because:

it's a greenfield site, largely comprising prime, grade 1 arable farmland;
it would "swallow up" the rural villages of Ford, Yapton and Climping;
it would put even more strain on local services and infrastructure;
it would undermine local democracy through a subversion of the normal planning process.

Nick has supported the campaign by raising the issue in Parliament, meeting with Ministers to relay the concerns of local residents, formally objecting to the Government's consultation, giving oral evidence at Arun District Council's inquiry, joining 2,000 local people on a protest march and speaking at a rally in Yapton, and meeting a delegation from CAFE in Westminster for the delivery of a 10,000-strong petition to Number 10 Downing Street.

After more than a year of campaigning, the Government conceded that Ford had failed to demonstrate ‘the potential to meet the sustainability and deliverability requirements for successful development as an eco-town'. Nick welcomed the Government's decision to leave Ford off the final shortlist of eco-towns, describing it as a "victory for people power".