New, Old, Scottish green town to be built

Soon a new town will be built in Scotland to honour the memory of Robert Owen who had a mill in New Lanark from the time period of 1800 to 1835. The town will be called Owenstown and will be home to about 20,000 people.

Owen helped his factory workers by installing a coop shop in the small village surrounding the mill and using the profits from the shop to fund facilities for the village such as a public school system.

The new town will create 8,000 jobs in Scotland including a new factory that will be green friendly and the first phase of the project. A wind farm will also be constructed and each home in Owenstown will have a garden for vegetable growing.

Once permission is granted for the project to begin the trust will finance the project on its own and plans on using individual funds to start funding the growth. Businesses that want to open in the town are also allowed to contribute to the funding. If everything goes as planned the approval for the development may allow the town to start building by 2012.

Chairman of the proposed town’s co-operative body, Dr. Jim Arnold, said that the town would follow co-op lines and that for one pound each resident of the area can add their input to the development of the overall town project.

The trust in charge of the town is the Hometown Foundation which plans to spend about 1.5b on the development of Owenstown.

Arnold went on to say that the development of the town would further the dreams and ideals of Robert Owen who was unable to see his complete vision completed within his time.