Testun llawn:
We recognise that development is inevitable and necessary to create new homes and jobs for local people. With a family of 3 children resident in the area, we are acutely aware of the need for sustainable development. Our comments are therefore rooted in the NPPF published earlier this year, which advocates growth on the basis that what we do today to meet our needs must not compromise the needs of future generations.
A central tenet of the NPPF is the protection of Green Belt land to prevent urban sprawl. "...Green belt boundaries should only be altered in exceptional circumstances". We object to the current proposal to develop the green belt to the north of Leamington Spa for the following reasons:
1. We do not agree with the Council's assertion that there are insufficient sites available outside the Green Belt - previously the Council has identified land east of Europa Way and south of Heathcote for development. Yet neither of these appears in the Preferred Options.
2. Whilst the Preferred Options appear to conserve a much needed corridor of green land either side of the railway line to Old Milverton, we are concerned that the effect of any further building on the Green Belt compromises the integrity of this distinctive settlement and therefore should be strongly resisted. The Council's planning strategy (Paragraph 7.33 of the Local Plan consultation document) emphasises the need to avoid the merging of urban areas. To build north of Leamington means further erosion of the space which keeps Leamington and Kenilworth as separate towns.
3. The land north of Leamington is a valuable leisure and recreation resource much used by local people for informal exercise.
4. The prospect of a North Leamington Relief Road would further erode the Green Belt and risks diverting resources from more sustainable infrastructure projects to the south of the town. Logically, housing should be located in the most accessible sites to the south of the town which avoid creating unnecessary congestion in the town centre.
We look forward to receiving further information on the revises proposals following this consultation in due course.