A planning application has been submitted covering the site of one of the government’s 15 shortlisted eco-towns.

The plans, for the proposed 5,000-home Curborough development at Fradley, near Lichfield, in Staffordshire, have been lodged by a consortium of Redrow Homes, Hallam Land Management, Gleeson Homes and Banks Developments.

However, the development is not designed to meet the government’s eco-town criteria, and was being planned before the competition was launched.

Planners said it would have to be revised if the site was selected as an eco-town.