Housing Minister John Healey has announced plans to build more than 600 "eco show homes" to demonstrate the attractions of living in one of the planned eco-towns.

Healey announced yesterday (Monday), that a sum of £60 million – a figure he first pledged last year – would be shared between the four local authorities involved in the first eco towns at Whitehill-Bordon in Hampshire, St Austell in Cornwall, Rackheath in Norfolk and North West Bicester in Oxfordshire.

The show homes will be built in and around the eco town sites and funding will also be used for boosting the energy efficiency of existing schools - including a new green sixth form for the Cooper School in Bicester, and retrofitting of primary schools and libraries in Whitehill-Bordon.

"This is the start of the country's biggest ever eco-home building programme,” Healey said. “As a first step, 600 will be built in these four areas - most will be for sale but some will be permanent eco-show homes. By 2016 there will be 10,000 new eco homes in these four pioneering areas. This means people will be able to experience green living for themselves and see how It can change their lives and save money.”

The Conservatives commented that it was “extraordinary” that eco-town homes were only aiming to reach Level 4 of the Code for Sustainable Homes, despite the fact that from 2016, all new homes will have to reach Code Level 6.