Testun llawn:
I find the proposed development plan very ott and full of promises that will probably never come to fruition. I know that there is a requirement for new housing but feel that the 10,000 is excessive, bearing in mind empty properties and places proposed for in-filling. I do not believe that we have the infra-structure in this area to cope. Surely you start with employment opportunities and then start building houses. The roads in the centre of Kenilworth, Leamington Spa and Warwick can barely cope with the amount of traffic there is at present. Public transport needs to be improved first, ideas to limit car travel need to be considered before any housebuilding, otherwise the result will be chaos and gridlocked roads. Buses should be subsidised. Some routes are hardly used, e.g. the Hatton Park development where the buses into Warwick are normally empty and those living on the estate should be encouraged to leave their cars at home and use the empty buses. Otherwise the number of buses should be curtailed or stopped.
I am especially worried about areas 2 and 3 as it appears to be complete over-development. Will traffic be pouring into Warwick and Leamington from these estates? If so, Myton Road, Castle Hill, Tachbrook Road, etc. will become totally gridlocked. What plans are there to overcome this?
Infilling is also very worrying. I live opposite the old fire station in Warwick and see that it is now a very useful additional parking area for people living in Albert, Victoria and Edward Streets. It also provides many parking spaces for County Council employees who work in the Saltisford Buildings. If social housing is built on this site, not only will we lose this valuable parking space, each new house/dwelling will have to have a minimum of parking space for 2 cars otherwise it will just add to the already serious parking problem. I only have a visitors parking permit but quite often my visitors have great difficulty in finding a parking space. Thought needs to be given to the allocation of parking permits for each household. When considering infilling, thought needs to be given, not only to what will be built on the site but how it will affect everything around that site. We see very few parking attendants and the "No Entry" sign at the Saltisford and Albert Street Junction is often ignored. Parking is already a very serious problem. Unless something is done when the social housing is built it will become an even bigger problem.
I do hope that lessons have been learned from development of estates like the Woodloes where a school was one of the last things to be built.