In a High Court hearing, Mr Justice Collins ruled on 12th September: "I
note there must be concern that the defendant, Secretary of State Hazel
Blears, may have disqualified herself from considering any planning
application for an eco-town because of perceived bias in its favour."
This now opens the way to a judicial review into the way eco towns have
been promoted by the Department of Communities and Local Government.

Michael Fabricant now says: "The Curborough eco-town proposal at
Fradley has now been withdrawn, but developers are still proposing a
5,000 home town on that site. Their justification is based on the
Government originally identifying it as being suitable for construction.
But with this High Court ruling – following on from an admission by the
Housing Minister, Caroline Flint, that she was unaware that 90% of the
development would be on a green field site, any application for
development on that site should now be rejected.

"I hope that Lichfield District Council and other planning bodies will
take this latest court ruling on board."