Eco-village hailed as shining example
Planners were today urged to go back to the future with a series of eco-villages across Northern Ireland based on the design of a village in south Armagh.
Ulster Unionist environment spokesperson Samuel Gardiner noted plans to build a new village in Telford the West Midlands modelled on the design of Bourneville, George Cadbury’s picturesque village in the Birmingham suburbs.
The Upper Bann Assembly member claimed future sustainable villages in Northern Ireland should draw their inspiration from the community in Bessbrook built by Quaker John Richardson, which inspired George Cadbury.
Mr Gardiner insisted: “We should be using this model to develop sustainable village communities with a fair proportion of affordable housing and houses reserved for shared-ownership.
“These villages should have a range of community facilities, shops, open spaces, churches, sports grounds and schools, where different people from different backgrounds would live side by side, enjoying common aspirations and in support of each other.
“In the Lightmoor venture up to 800 houses and apartments are being built for families, couples and singles, of which at least 25% will be affordable, meeting the Quaker Joseph Rowntree foundation’s Lifetime Homes standards.”
John Richardson conceived the idea of a model village in 1845 when his family bought Bessbrook’s linen mill.
Up to 30 workers had houses built in College Square.
The middle of College Square has a bowling green and children’s play area and it also boasts the town hall and primary school.
The Bessbrook Development Company has restored one workers’ house at 6 College Square East.
Open to the public, it depicts what the home of a Bessbrook mill worker was like in the period 1881-1900 and is used by schools studying living conditions in Bessbrook at that time.
The new eco-village at Lightmoor will deploy environmentally friendly materials and will also boast a village centre, a primary school, integrated community centre, shops and a family restaurant pub.
A sustainable urban drainage centre will enable rainwater to run into a series of pools which will create wildlife habitats.
Mr Gardiner envisaged every home in a Northern Ireland eco-village being built using the latest urban design techniques and construction methods to create eco homes with an excellent rating.
Environmentally friendly materials would also be used and features that allow flexibility will be incorporated, the Ulster Unionist MLA proposed.
“Such village developments need to be urban utopias,” he argued.
“They should provide people with a sustainable lifestyle with a real human dimension to it.”
