The announcement that four eco towns have got the go-ahead in the midst of a recession looks like a desperate attempt to keep Gordon Brown’s controversial flagship policy on the road.

The policy of zero-carbon towns have been beset with problems since their inception two years ago and the goal posts have been changed numerous times.

While originally all the homes were expected to be at the highest environmental level now those built before 2016 only have to reach level 4 out of 6 on standards for energy efficiency, recycling, water efficiency and reduced pollution.

Fierce local opposition and the depth of the current recession looked likely to scupper the whole plan earlier this year as several developers pulled out. The go-ahead for the final four has already been delayed by at least six months.

But Mr Brown now seems determined to get at least a couple of these green towns - probably North West Bicester and Rackheath, into the planning process within the next nine months.

Officials appear confident that small showcase groups of ten or 20 homes could be on site in these areas by 2011 and ready for people to move into.

Plans for a further four eco-towns could also be well advanced if a general election is delayed until next May. Whitehall officials, many of whom have enthusiastically backed the scheme, are hoping that if the Tories win the general election they will keep to the programme. But the uncertainty over this could deter developers.

The four eco towns given the go ahead in Oxfordshire, Norfolk, Cornwall and Hampshire are all located in and backed by Conservative local authorities. But David Cameron’s Opposition to the scheme has hardened since last year. Grant Schapps, the shadow housing has repeatedly called the schemes an “eco-con” and accused the Government of merely trying to railroad extra homes into rural areas.

Mr Cameron, if he wins the election, will however have to weigh up the need for extra housing - the eco towns contain 30 per cent affordable housing - and the political points which could be won by abandoning the schemes.

In the end it is perhaps unlikely that the four Conservative authorities and developers who have spent up to £2 million each on preparing for these green towns will want to pull the plug on badly needed extra homes.

They may be delayed and appear in different shades of green, with more cars than originally envisaged. But they will really only be able to survive as separate eco entities if the government of the day is prepared to invest billions of pounds in infrastructure, such as roads, railways, schools and hospitals to support these new town populations.

Without this commitment, Mr Brown’s “big idea” of pioneering eco towns will end up as groups of developments tagged onto existing urban conurbations with higher pollution on crowded roads.

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