Residents of Bolton are getting het up by Manchester United footballer Gary Neville's plans for a flower shaped eco-home on green belt land. Quotes - here - from a meeting in a Methodist church hall show how the message is in the subtext.

"Why do we have to have this dirty great big house because he has lots of money?"

You don't. You can still keep your little house. He gets to have the great big house. And that's possibly the problem. The use of the word "dirty" is interesting. This, from the architect's website:

Make has submitted a planning application to Bolton Council for a new eco-home which, if approved, will be the first zero-carbon property in the North West of England... The design team has worked closely with Peter Rolton, a key member of the Government’s advisory panel for renewable and sustainable energy, and the proposed scheme has already been identified as an exemplar project within the Government’s ‘Planning Performance Agreements for Renewable and Low Carbon Energy Schemes’ programme.

It just seems a shame to me that while Bovis gets to squat above the country, dropping these at will, innovative, eco-friendly architecture that tests technology for future use is made so difficult.

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