BASE HEADER

SACRIFICE OF GREEN BELT LAND

The National Policy Planning Framework was crafted to halt the problems of unpopular local plans.

A clear goal of this framework is to protect Green Belt, transferring the control around this to local people. The national guidelines are very clear; they state that there need to be very exceptional circumstances for development to be sanctioned for Green Belt.

The Council has failed to provide the evidence to demonstrate why we have reached these exceptional circumstances.

The estimation of the amount of housing in particular is flawed and based on the rate of growth from the past; the proposed areas for development are a huge over-estimation.
Green belt land should not be developed when other suitable land is available. Other suitable land has already been identified on available land east of the A452 and south of Heathcote. These sites already have the appropriate infrastructure to support these locations. None of these sites, however, are included in the Preferred Options paper. There is also non-green belt land identified in the consultation documents suitable for development which is being ignored in pursuit of the Green Belt sites.

The two proposed areas of Green Belt which are being proposed North of Leamington have no such associated infrastructure and will lead to merging of urban areas which is not supported by town planners.

The overwhelming point, however, is that the identified sites in North Leamington strongly meet the criteria for the purposes of Green Belt land and should therefore be protected from this or any other development.

There has been a suggestion that other green belt sites north of Leamington are to support a policy of 'spreading things around'. This of course is not a professional planning point of view, it is a political one.

The Council exists to represent local people and support Government policy. The protection of Green Belt outlined in such policy should be followed not sidelined. The Council has many choices and there are major consequences of those decisions which must be taken with a high level of quality, professionalism and integrity.... supported by concrete evidence.