BASE HEADER

I am writing to let you know that whilst I understand you believe the new proposition could be positive for Warwick DC, I strongly object to the proposals for the new houses on our North Leamington Greenbelt, the out of town shopping centre, new supermarket and the feeder road through the fields of Old Milverton on the grounds that: the very special circumstances cited to justify damaging the Greenbelt are invalid.

I also disagree with your statement "if a proposal is not approved, builders will be able to build anywhere they like." Planning permission will always be required and therefore could still be rejected if inappropriate.

I'm amazed that you were able to propose building on the Greenbelt when the Government has recently re-emphasised its protection for the GB in the new NPPF. Even Warwick District Council's objection to HS2, sited the unnecessary irriversable damage to the environment as part of your argument! Clearly the Council have double standards. Especially when you have already previously identified many suitable brown and white field sites, including the ones in your 2009 proposal. Why have these sites now been discounted?


New Out of Town Shopping Centre
The District doesn't need another out of town shopping centre. We already have one out of town shopping centre on the Shires Industrial Estate which is linked to a wonderfully adequate infrastructure. It currently has a large empty unit and room for expansion on the other units (by adding second floors, which some have already done).

What retail businesses do we expect to attract to North Leamington anyway? The usual out of town retailers like Currys, Outlet (inc DP, Topshop, Wallis, Burton etc), Mothercare already have locations in the Shires. Do you want the remainder of the town centre shops to move out and take up residence there, making them ghost towns?

In Leamington Spa town centre there are numerous empty retail units, including the large, not so old shopping centre - Regency Arcade. Shouldn't we be filling these up first? Town Centres used to be the hub of social activity. If you build more out of town shopping centres, you will no doubt kill even more of the local shops in our town centres and people will no doubt loose their jobs. If free parking in town was offered again, this would help jump start inner town spending.

We don't need a park and ride. If you go into town during the day, there are numerous spaces available on the streets - thanks to the parking meters. Also the multi story car parks are never full.

In addition to this, internet shopping is increasing all the time. At present, they say that £1.30 in each £10 is spent online. Shops will be effected and become less desirable should this trend continue, which it almost certainly will. With the above in mind, I believe we need to look at things that will not be effected by the internet like tourism, agriculture and services which we are already good at in Warwick District. Stoneleigh Estate are currently working on a proposition which will create employment and makes much more sense.


New Proposed Supermarket, Blackdown
How many Supermarkets does a town need! I looked on Yell.com and noticed that we already have at least 20 supermarkets in Warwick District.

Even if the new dwellings are built, we already have access to adequate supplies from the existing supermarkets. Tesco Warwick and Tesco Metro (on Leamington Parade) are both under 2 miles away from the proposed development. Tesco Cubbington Road is just over 2 miles away. We also have a huge new Morrisons being built on the old Ford Foundry.

Are we allowing them to build on our Greenbelt as part of a Section 106 agreement, to raise funds for the rest of your proposals? Raising funds is not an exceptional reason to build on Greenbelt land. It is a fact that the Supermarkets kill our local businesses. Greengrocers, butchers, bakers and pharmacies, even news agents are going out of business and our town centres are filled with empty units where they once were.

When I was younger, my mother travelled 3 miles to do her shopping. This was acceptable back then and the likes of Tesco, Sainsburys, Asda, Morrisons, Waitrose etc are killing the local businesses. Look at what's happened on Coten End after Sainsburys moved in! We are in danger of being taken over by the Superstores and killing the soul of our towns.


New Houses In North Leamington Greenbelt

The number:
I understand some new houses may be required but not on the scale you propose. I dispute your calculations on the number of dwellings required. You propose that we need 11,000 over 15 years in addition to the numerous new developments currently under construction which have not been sold or rented.

Since you produced the report, new planning permission has been granted for more and buildings, including the Dementia Unit on Milverton Road. I'm sure there will be more over the next few years in addition to these you are proposing. I would be pleased if the equivellent was deducted from your plan as this was not approved at the time of your plan making.

People extend their houses to make more bedrooms / granny annex's and build new houses on large back gardens all the time, thanks to new planning regulations. Some developments are unfinished because they cannot fund the final stage, due to lack of demand - eg Portabello.

Currently, a large percentage of rental properties in the district are inhabited by students of Warwick University. With tuition fees of up to £9,000 per annum, increasing, it is likely that the number of students are already reducing. Therefore there will be numerous houses and apartments available to rent.

The Government are looking at the housing benefit policy. If this goes ahead, the under 25s won't get benefits and will therefore not be able to afford to rent local houses and apartments.

To help local employment and to preserve our beautiful historic regency town of Leamington, I strongly believe the Council should be looking to improve Warwick District through Urban Regeneration in the very first instance. This would give small local building companies, plumbers and electricians work which is very much in short supply. Surely, we want to support our local businesses first over national building companies.

Currently, there are more houses on the rental market than meet our demands and numerous vacant properties for sale, vacant possession. As an example, there is a 12 bedroom property for a mere £800k on St Marks Road, Leamington. This would make an excellent Residential Home, several large flats or even a good home for several single parent families.

forget the 'big boys' who are not interested in small sites, but look to regional and local builders - who bring added sustainability benefits, such as keeping money local, reducing travel to site and providing jobs within the immediate locality.


The Location
The land you propose to build on in Old Milverton is "A grade" agricultural land which enjoys significant protection from development. It is referred to as 'Best and Most Versatile' land.

The old IBM site is huge and is already well linked to the bypass and services. You could fit over 1,000 family homes on there, even more homes for the elderly. I've heard rumours that ASDA (yet another Supermarket!!!) wish to develop it. Under the circumstances, it would be unethical when you say brown field sites are a priority for dwellings. There is also the old Hobsons Choice public house on Spinney Hill and several sites along the canal (Wharf St, Nelson Lane) which could be developed into desirable dwellings, whilst at the same time, making the area more attractive.

Why do the new developments in rural areas need to be so big anyway? Why not have small developments in each area and spread it out over the district where sites are available? Is it because the developers you have in mind aren't interested in this?

By building the houses, Old Milverton will no longer be a hamlet, which is inconsistent with 7 of 4.11 of your objective. It does not respect the integrity of existing settlements.

In your report, you state that most the employment is in South Leamington. With this in mind, surely the best position for the new houses, to avoid congestion in North Leamington would be South Leamington - Barford even Radford Semille way.

If new rural dwellings are required, they should be kept on a very small scale and in the character with the other dwellings in the settlement, maintaining the charm of each existing development. Large new developments on Greenbelt land are not the answer.

I mentioned the Stoneleigh Development earlier. Should this go ahead, isn't it sensible to find a location in that area for a small percentage of the houses, if only 50 of the dwellings, if you are trying to discourage reduce car usage?

New Proposed Road to Feed Into the A45 from Milverton Road
This proposal is a contradiction to point 7 of 4.11 of your objective. It does not respect the integrity of existing settlements, in particular, Old Milverton Village.
If you are making improvements to the A452, why is this road needed?

Should it go ahead, it will only reduce the distance for users by 2 miles, (2 minutes drive time) if they get off this junction instead of the Kenilworth junction so how can the reduction of valuable agricultural land and destruction of our Greenbelt be justified, financially or morally.

It also goes against objective 13 of 4.12. The road, leading up to the new proposed development is well used by cyclists, joggers, walkers and horse riders at present. Should the proposed road go ahead, the road will become a busy road making it unsafe for current users to enjoy. Especially because there is no pedestrian pathway alongside the road.

As I write, there are already daily traffic jams at the A45 exit by the Saxon Mill on Coventry Road, which will join the feeder road. Having a feeder road will only make this conjestion worse - a contradiction to point 4 of 4.11.

If the Council wishes to ease congestion on Kenilworth Road I believe the Council should provide better bus services in rural areas, especially during rush hours. It would be even more effective if busses had priority over cars on the roads. Also, if the road out of Hill Wooton onto Kenilworth Road was changed so it was left turn only, this would help congestion. Perhaps this could be done on the Kenilworth Road?
Who's going to use it? If it is to help people get to the proposed out of town shopping centre in North Leamington, it will not be required. People in Coventry, Stratford Upon Avon and Birmingham all have more than adequate shopping centres and certainly won't make a special effort to come to ours. Especially as all out of town shopping centres tend to be filled by the same shops.

The suggestion of a feeder road is a further contradiction to objective 4.11.4. The fields surrounding Milverton and Old Milverton (leading down to the Saxon Mill) is already, today, meeting the objective you set in this section and is a much loved and well used, safe route for cyclists, runners, nature photographers, walking groups and dog walkers. People like the route to get escape from urban life and it's important to have this close to North Leamington residents, without having to get into a car. There is nowhere else we can use within walking distance. If you make these changes, a big ugly bypass or any type of road running through this field will most definately make this an unattractive, unhealthy, unsafe option. If you really want to encourage people to be more healthy lifestyles, we need this area to remain untouched. If we loose our open land, we will have to get into our cars to find a similar option.

As a result of the feeder road, there will be additional traffic conjestion where the Rugby Road meets the Old Milverton Road and increased traffic through Milverton (not just from the new houses). It is hard enough now in the mornings to get in and out of the Old Milverton Road to / from Rugby Road. You will need to introduce a new traffic management on the entrance and the Old Milverton Road. Additional crossings will be required to ensure safe crossing for the walking school route for residents of Milverton and Old Milverton and it will become a busy main road.

Again, this will create the opposite of objective 13 of 4.12. The Old Milverton Road is also enjoyed by parents of children, and children attending Brookhurst and Trinity. We use this route to walk into Leamington regularly. It is a nice quiet, low traffic, pretty rural, safe road with a short cut under the railway bridge to Beverley Road. I would not be happy for my young children to use this road if it becomes a busy highway, which will happen if the new proposed road goes ahead. Improvements to this road will be required to keep it safe and so it doesn't become conjested.

Your plan states that Warwick District wants to be low carbon producing. We should look at building and improving cycle paths and public transport links / services. Not building new roads on our Greenbelt and on our limited grade A agricultural land.


Wildlife
We have a family of little owls who nest in our village every year and perch on our Victorian walled garden and surrounding trees throughout the day. Last year we were lucky enough to see a falcon in the garden. Although I don't think they are classified yet as endangered, the numbers are declining rapidly. I presume through over-development of rural areas. The other birds of prey like buzzards and eagles can be seen regularly too. Due to a previous builder's wildlife report not being published, some people believe there is a possibility of great crested newts in the area. I know we have some but as I don't know what crested ones look like, I can't confirm ours are or not. This would need to be verified.


Evidence Pack
Finally, after reading the evidence pack, the questionnaire used, I thought was leading so I think this should be discounted as evidence.


I hope the points raised have been useful and that my objection is registered appropriately. If I need to do this in any different format to make it valid, please let me know.