Are the worsening conditions in the housing market and wider economy causing the ecotown opponents further anguish? “The housing market is really suffering and there’s little hope the industry will make its main housing targets for this year, so these ecotown plans have not come at a great time,” comments Brian Berry of the Federation of Master Builders (FMB). “We certainly need more affordable homes but ones which are grown more organically than ecotowns.” <br><br>But Mark Sitch, Barton Willmore’s town planning consultant on Middle Quinton – the proposed development near Stratford-Upon-Avon – points out that due to pre-application and planning processes, followed by the determination period, the market will have plenty of time to improve before the settlements are built. The time lapse will make ecotowns robust in the face of market conditions, asserts James Gross, Barton Willmore’s masterplanning director for the proposed Ford scheme in west Sussex. Both Sitch and James Gross claim that new homes will be needed come the eventual upswing and renewed interest will reinvigorate the market, especially as ecotowns will provide 30% to 50% affordable housing. “Ecotowns may even be coming at the right time, with rising oil prices and people becoming increasingly conscious about …