Sustainability urged for new town

A new organisation has said the material and infrastructure of the new East Devon community at Cranbrook should be as sustainable as possible. The Devon Sustainable Building Initiative has said Cranbrook should be developed to make the best use of energy- saving technology to make the houses as efficient as possible. It said the development does not compare favourably with a similar proposal near Plymouth. Its director Gareth Walton said, although the Plymouth development is not as advanced in planning terms, the developers were looking at ideas to develop it in a sustainable way. He said: "The developers are holding workshops with interested parties to develop a sustainable plan and they are doing really well. That is the sort of benchmark that we should be setting in Devon and beyond." Derek Spreckward of Taylor Woodrow, one of the new community developers, said: "Cranbrook's developers will happily comply with the changes to the building regulations being introduced next year, aimed at improving the sustainability of building in the UK.