A TELEVISION star was in Swindon to mark the start of his innovative and controversial housing project.

Grand Designs presenter Kevin McCloud was joined in town by new Housing Minister Grant Shapps for the turning of the sod at The Triangle development, off Northern Road.

The Rodbourne site, a former caravan park and plant nursery, will have 42 homes specifically designed to create sustainable living and should be completed by May 2011.

Permission was given for the site in October last year despite some residents’ objections.

Mr McCloud said: “It’s great to be on site and see it happening in the current climate.

“Swindon has signed up to One Planet Living.

“We’re looking forward to creating One Planet Swindon.”

All homes will meet code four standards for the Code for Sustainable Homes.

Builders will use carbon negative materials such as hemcrete, a mixture of lime and hemp, which locks carbon into its structure, as opposed to more traditional heavy building materials.

The houses will then be lime washed.

Other designs for the complex include a car sharing schemes, which Mr McCloud hopes will also involve local residents, use of public realm spaces, edible hedgerows and kitchen gardens.

The project is being run by Hab Oakus, a joint venture between Mr McCloud’s company Hab and housing group GreenSquare.

It has been supported with a £2.5m grant from the Homes and Communities Agency’s National Affordable Housing Programme and the houses will be available to rent and buy.

Mr McCloud said the key to this project was to balance innovative ideas for sustainability with the practical needs of Swindon people.

Although the design was not at the most environmentally ambitious level he could have chosen, this would make it possible to bring these houses into standard housing association budgets.

“Right now it’s fundamental that we make houses affordable as much as we make them ambitious,” he said.

“There’s every point in producing exemplar schemes that use exemplar technology because they serve as real models for the wider world.

“We’re not about building exemplar schemes, we’re about building larger, long-term projects.

Mr McCloud’s proposal was passed by a planning committee in October 2009, despite 16 people submitting written objections ahead of the meeting.

Ward councillors also said it was not an appropriate use for the site and parking provision was inadequate.

Mr McCloud’s larger plan for 200 homes at Pickards Fields, Gorse Hill, has been put on hold after residents launched plans to make the site a village green.

But he said he had by no means given up on the idea, which he began three years ago.

Mr Shapps added that sites like this were very important in the government aim to reduce emissions by 2050.

He said: “They lead the way and show possibilities – you are showing the way providing leadership, I know this is going to be an enormous success.”