BASE HEADER

No

ID sylw: 107615

Derbyniwyd: 07/03/2025

Ymatebydd: Bearley Parish Council

These proposals result from a desk/paper-based exercise and they lack understanding of local issues. The HELAA contains too many basic errors and incomplete data to be used in decision-making.

Transportation issues are worse than the plan suggests. The station is a ‘rural halt’. This is the only proposed site split by a major road, which would be dangerous for school children. The A3400 has serious bottlenecks and low, narrow bridges. Warwick Highways conclude traffic mitigation would be challenging and expensive. One rail line shown in the SWLP doesn’t exist. This is not a 'well connected' settlement.

The site is Green Belt. Development would coalesce Stratford-upon-Avon with its northern villages, conflicting with the purposes of the Green Belt and the SWLP principles. As 7 of the 12 sites are not Green Belt and have sufficient capacity to meet housing needs there are no 'exceptional circumstances' to justify release.

Biodiversity and the adjacency of Bearley Bushes SSSI are unaccounted for in the assessment. The Lepus 'Interim Sustainability Appraisal' rates this site as the worst choice for biodiversity. This site should be red and not green in the HELAA. The buffer zone of 25m in the HELAA is arbitrary and contrary to Natural England guidance.

The area has serious surface water flood risks evident from maps and moreso to locals who have to navigate flooding several times annually. Properties in the Grange Road Area (half the village) are at the bottom of a slight valley and at risk from increased run-off from development each side. The 2021 flood zone report shows part of the site as red but it is assessed green in the HELAA.

The site is ranked eighth out of twelve for sustainability but then without explanation the SWLP says it is a 'more suitable' site.