The list, to be whittled down to 10 during the next six months, will see the creation of environmentally-friendly towns comprising low-energy, carbon-neutral developments.
Dotted about the nation, the proposed sites are: Bordon, Coltishall, Curborough, Elsenham, Ford, Hanley Grange, Imerys and Leeds, as well as Manby, Marston Vale, New Marston, Middle Quinton, Pennbury, Rossington, Rushcliffe and Weston Otmoor.
They will make use of brownfield sites including former MoD land, military depots, disused airfields and former mining pits and industrial sites.
Most of those which failed to make the shortlist were either on greenbelt land or the development was deemed to be threatening to local wildlife. A further portion were ousted because of their similarity to projects previously denied planning permission.
Housing minister Caroline Flint said the towns would adhere to governmental objectives while providing affordable new housing: "We have a major shortfall of housing - building in existing towns and cities alone simply cannot provide enough new homes.
"Shortlisted locations now face further challenges including public consultation and a detailed Sustainability Appraisal which will assess the merits and challenges for each one.
Interested developers will have to pitch to a panel of government-assembled experts to win the contracts according to Flint, with normal planning controls in place should residents or other individuals wish to challenge the plans.
The government will now enter into a three-month consultation period to assess the preliminary views on the proposed sites and their individual benefits, with further announcements made over the course of the year.
New homes in every village, town, and city built to a high quality and sensitive to the local environment, would offer a more sustainable long term approach to our housing needs than the Government’s top down housing policy which has been dressed up as eco-towns says the Federation of Master Builders.
Brian Berry, director external affairs at the Federation of Master Builders, criticised the plans as a 'red herring.'
He said: “Eco –towns sound lovely but are really a red herring to give the Government’s housing plans a stamp of green credibility.
“Building brand new eco–towns outside existing settlements is really bad idea when there are 675,000 empty homes in England alone sitting empty, all ripe for refitting with green technologies.
"Given that demand for housing covers the whole of the UK it makes sense for every village and town to have new housing rather creating brand new settlements.”
“If the Government is really serious about sustainable settlements the better solution would be to develop a patchwork of hundreds of smaller eco-projects, with contracts awarded by local regions for both new homes and refurbishment of old buildings with green measures spread across arrange of proven technologies."
