Sounds simple, doesn't it? So, why hasn't anyone in government seized on it as the great way forward? I know, I know, there will be numerous political reasons why.

But is there anything that is really so crazy about the notion? It is make-do-and-mend, in a way, and we're all supposed to be tightening our belts. Rather than spending billions on building something new, it would be more sensible to improve what we've got – by securing infrastructure such as flood defences and roads around existing villages, guaranteeing a future for the Post Offices, shops and transport services under threat, and creating a forward thinking planning policy which promotes sensitive inclusion of eco-aware new homes within established communities suffering from a lack of affordable and modern housing.

The eco-towns programme is nothing more than a toy, a distraction from the real and biting problems that are affecting the housing market at every level, from the withdrawal of mortgages to bricklayers losing their jobs.

None of us needs reminding that these problems are spiralling out of control and affecting the economy at large.

How can Ministers expect the public to take seriously a programme to create thousands of brand new, state-of-the-art, low energy, carbon-neutral homes when most of us are struggling to afford or sell the homes we have? There are two Yorkshire sites – one to be decided on within the Leeds city region, and the former mining village of Rossington, near Doncaster – on the 15-strong shortlist, which is expected to be whittled down to 10 this year.

Forgive me if I've missed the celebrations, but I have yet to come across one proposed site around England where local residents are actively welcoming the prospect of a brand new town being plonked on their doorstep.

The Royal Town Planning Institute told the Government that it risked creating "soulless Stepford Wives' suburbia" if it did not ensure that new settlements were connected seamlessly to existing developments. So far, there seems to have been no evidence of any kind of joined-up thinking at all.

In our area, there have been protests in Selby, part of the Leeds city region under discussion, and opposition in the village of Tickhill, close to Rossington, which is, incidentally, within the constituency of Caroline Flint, the Housing Minister.

Touchingly, the Prime Minister has announced that residents will be able to choose the names for these new towns. Scant comfort that is, I'm sure, to those facing large-scale, long-term disruption to their lives which they have neither sought nor sanctioned.

The whole eco-towns bandwagon illustrates just how far removed Ministers must be from reality. Pro-countryside campaigners are obviously aghast.

And it's not only the "not in my backyard" lobby who are complaining about increased traffic, over-burdened schools and hospitals and the sheer dominant presence – up to 20,000 homes in the largest schemes – that the eco towns will create.

Construction experts say that incorporating all the proposed eco-features in these new homes will send build costs soaring higher than ever, and make them extortionate to build and, therefore, sell. Developers are also objecting to a potential "dual track" planning system, which will penalise private schemes in favour of eco-towns.

While all this is going on, a government-instigated report has found that, in the past four years, nearly half of all neighbourhoods have lost key amenities such as doctors' surgeries, Post Offices, shops and schools. The report suggests that rural towns and villages are particularly badly hit, shedding basic services at "their fastest rate ever".

Why should any of us trust a Government that cannot even preserve the communities we have, to create new ones that will be better? Every other policy it suggests seems to be about centralisation, such as the proposed multi-doctor "polyclinics" to replace neighbourhood surgeries, and massive so-called "super schools" catering for three-19-year-olds.

When all the residents move into their new eco-towns, it is clear that the only way they will get to a doctor or a cash point is to hop in their cars and drive, despite promises to improve the parlous state of public transport, a crucial eco-issue with which successive Transport Ministers have been unable to get to grips.

Meanwhile, in the wider world, China continues to open two coal fired power stations every week.

Answer me, honestly, what is the point of a country, already up to its ears in debt, with property prices in freefall, committing itself to a massive-scale house-building programme which no-one seems to want, just to gain spurious eco-credentials? Talk about fiddling while the rest of the world burns.