BASE HEADER

This letter is in response to requests for comments about the future house building plans for Warwick District. We are residents of central Leamington and are therefore not directly affected by these proposals.
However we would like to make the following points:

a. Building on Green Belt land should not be countenanced where other alternatives exist as they do in this case. The justification for the green belt land north of Leamington is as valid now as it has ever been.

b. The proposals if implemented will lead to a coalescing of Leamington and Kenilworth leading to the loss of identity of each and to the detriment of both.

c. The scattering of the developments in several places around the district will increase disproportionately the costs of the additional infrastructure needed e.g roads, utilities and schools. Building to the north of Leamington will require the creation of major new road infrastructure whereas there are existing links to the main arterial roads to the south of Leamington.

d. The future need for retail space in the district is going to decrease because of the rapid increase of internet shopping and the scale of the existing out of town centres. Any future house building plans should take account of the fact that the reduction in retail space will provide opportunities for provision of housing.

e. An alternative to the present plans would be the development of a new satellite town or village on non-green belt land and with good links to the existing transport infrastructure.