NW Bicester Eco-Town, UK

Bicester has been identified for growth and private developers have proposed to establish a new community a few miles outside of the existing town as an Eco-Town, part of the Government's commitment to sustainable design. Conversely, Cherwell District Council believes the new development should be focused on the existing community and in response commissioned Halcrow to undertake preliminary studies on a site immediately contiguous to the town.

The 350-hectare site is situated immediately to the northwest of the town and is bisected by the London-Birmingham rail line. Historic and picturesque villages surround the site and a key consideration in the site planning of the community was to ensure the new community would not physically or visually encroach on these histories areas.

Overall, the eco-town programme calls for carbon-neutral developments which comprise buildings that showcase cutting edge sustainable technology. In addition to the proposed 5,000 homes other features of the NW Bicester community will include generous amounts of open space, inclusion of a large area of employment land, and a full range of education and community support facilities. A key consideration is movement and the need to minimise trips by private automobile. Therefore the community will feature footpaths and cycleways throughout and incorporate bus services linking the new homes and businesses to the town centre. The mainline rail services at Bicester North and Bicester Town rail stations provide an added feature to the town and underpin the strategy to locate the new community where it can best take advantage of this existing transport infrastructure. Studies are currently underway to determine the most appropriate form and route of public transport to connect the site to these two rail stations.

In summary, the NW Bicester proposals have demonstrated how the new community can be established adjacent to the existing town and how it can benefit from existing infrastructure and services. In turn, it can be seen how investments made in establishing the new community can be leveraged to benefit the whole of the town.

Cherwell District Council approved the master plan and feasibility report in March 2009 as its starting point for ongoing work on the eco-town. In July 2009, North West Bicester became one of only four eco-towns to be endorsed by DCLG.