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Only a quarter of all journeys in the government鈥檚 ten planned eco-towns should be by car, according to official guidance published this week.

The guidance written by the Town and Country Planning Association recommends that there should be 鈥渕anaged and limited鈥� car access to all the new developments, with speed limits kept 鈥渧ery low鈥� to give pedestrians greater priority.

The guidance, endorsed by Communities secretary Hazel Blears this week, says the towns should be designed to give pedestrians priority, followed by cyclists, then users of public transport, and finally private car owners.

It says: 鈥淚n exemplar towns no more than a maximum of 25% of all journeys should be by private car.鈥�

It cites the Swiss city of Basle as a place where this has been achieved.

In addition it brings the example of Freiburg in Germany as a model, where residents have to pay 拢12,500 and a monthly management fee on top of the cost of their home for a space to park their car, and no on street parking is allowed.

The document says: 鈥淐onventional approaches will need to be turned on their head in order to create lifetime places that prioritise people over vehicles.鈥�

In addition the TCPA guidance says all eco-towns must make use of Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems, which are designed to ensure that developments do not contribute to the risk of flash flooding in high rainfall.

Also, eco-towns should 鈥渁spire鈥� to moving toward a position of 鈥渨ater neutrality鈥� 鈥� where the town does not have any net demand for water above the existing use of the land.

The TCPA鈥檚 guidance covers transport planning, community infrastructure and water conservation. In future they will publish further guidance on green infrastructure, housing and inclusive design, waste and recycling, energy and the economy & 鈥榞reen collar鈥� jobs.

Gideon Amos, TCPA director, said: 鈥淭he primary opportunity presented by the development of an eco-town is in putting in new infrastructure at the outset, rather than relying on old. These Worksheets therefore aim to highlight the ways in which eco-towns can achieve higher levels of sustainability than other development carried out within existing towns.鈥�