Construction»Eco towns given go ahead

The settlements, to be built by 2016, will include the latest in energy efficiency measures, streets with charging points for electric cars and numerous cycle routes as well as easy access to public transport.

The locations are Whitehill Borden in Hampshire, the China Clay Community at St Austell, Cornwall, Rackheath in Norfolk and north-west Bicester, in Oxfordshire. Each site will be allocated a share of £60m for their "green" infrastructure.

The towns are designed to tackle Britain's housing shortage while minimising damage to the environment – more than a quarter of the UK's CO2 emissions come from energy use in houses.

Launching the initiative Gordon Brown said earlier today: "Eco-towns will help to relieve the shortage of affordable homes to rent and buy, and minimise the effects of climate change on a major scale. They will provide modern homes with lower energy bills, energy efficient offices and brand-new schools, community centres and services."

But eco-towns have been criticised ever since Brown announced his plan to build up to 100,000 homes in five green towns, soon after succeeding Tony Blair as prime minister in 2007.

The Campaign to Protect Rural England wanted the government to scale back the programme to one or two showcase towns, arguing that officials should concentrate on refurbishing existing properties and redeveloping derelict brownfield sites as well as bring 800,000 empty homes in England back to use.

The eco-towns will still require planning permission and could face opposition from residents anxious about the impact on rural areas.

The housing minister John Healey said: "I recognise that the proposals can raise strong opinions, but climate change threatens us all and with our commitment to the eco-towns we are taking steps to meet this challenge and help build more affordable housing."

He said Britain was leading the world in designing zero-carbon buildings. "One in three of Britain's homes in 2050 will be built between now and then, so we have to set clear, green, standards for the future. I am confirming that all new homes from 2016 will have to meet a tough zero-carbon standard, so they are cleaner, greener and cheaper to run."

In addition to the four eco-towns, a further two, Rossington, in South Yorkshire and North-East Elsenham, Essex, are on the cards for the scheme's second wave. The government wants up to 10 eco-towns completed or under way by 2020.

Friends of the Earth's executive director, Andy Atkins, welcomed the plans. But he said: "The bigger challenge is to ensure that all new housing is built to the highest environmental standards. Ministers must ensure that all the two million homes that they plan to build across the country are truly green and help meet UK targets for tackling climate change."

Grant Shapps, the Tories' housing spokesperson and MP for Welwyn Hatfield, dismissed eco-towns as a gimmick. "Underneath the thick layers of greenwash many of these schemes are unsustainable, unviable and unpopular, but Gordon Brown wants to impose them from Whitehall irrespective of local opinion."

John Alker, of the UK Green Building Council, said that although eco-towns had had a rough ride, the idea behind them was sound. "The current economic climate is very challenging for new house building in the short-term, but zero carbon homes, sustainable transport, a robust local economy and access to green space are all vital ingredients of new places fit for the 21st century.

He added: "The eco-towns brand has taken a battering, but if these developments go through the interrogation of a proper planning process, are linked to existing communities, have local support and are built to the very highest environmental standards, then it can only be a good thing. Building green homes on a large scale … will also reduce the green cost premium and help provide a blueprint for the homes of the future."