What's the deal with Eco-towns?

Most people don't want new towns to be built next to them, eco or non-eco, and this is something the government has to accept. Yet we face crisis of affordable housing and often the houses of the poorest parts of society are the most energy inefficient, leaking heat and electricity. The government wants to build these new towns to cut down on energy use and to fill the housing crisis, two birds with one stone. However, many of these new proposed towns happen to be on the same sites that applications for non-eco communities were turned down. Is this new proposal a crafty way to get around planning laws? I do applaud the governments plan to tighten the environmental standards for new builds( although they are far too slow to come into affect) but are eco new builds the way forward? What about eco-renovations? They may be less glamorous and a lesser PR stunt than brand new towns but shouldn't we be worried about own existing houses before getting into arguments about the houses of the future? With spiraling fuel prices and greenhouse gas emissions, it makes sense to insulate our homes and to fit double glazing or heat pumps? The money due to be spent on new builds could go even further with helping people to cut their carbon footprint and their fuel bills in one go. So, why isn't it happening? Back we go to the so called housing shortage. But this is a myth. In fact we have more houses built than any time before in our history jut less people to live in them. In 1950 the average was about 5 per household now it is closer to 2. More people have second or even third homes, perhaps this is the problem? An ecological solution to the housing crisis is to make more habitable the houses we already have, in terms of affordability and carbon emissions. Eco-towns? Wishful thinking and an unnecessary deflection from our major housing issue.