BASE HEADER

I am writing as an objector to the Local Plan currently being put in place to develop the Green Belt in the Old Milverton and Blackdown districts.

This is a valuable source of recreation and exercise and is used by very many people every day for walking, riding, running and enjoying the freedom of the countryside. It is an important green lung between Kenilworth and Leamington and any incursion will mean that, in time, the only thing separating the two towns would be the increasingly busy A46.

The building of the prohibitively expensive Northern relief road would simply enable those who would be living in this area if building was allowed to reach the A46 and go and work elsewhere because there are no suitable local employment opportunities. Such a road would also ruin the village of Old Milverton and it would loose its village status very quickly.

National Policy has consistently stated that Green Belt land must not be developed if other suitable land is available.

Old Milverton and Blackdown are all in the Green Belt and are also areas of high grade agricultural productivity. There is no marginal Green Belt in that area. In contrast, South Leamington is not Green Belt land and already has commercial and industrial areas local to it. The infrastructure is already in place and there is available land there. As recently as 2009 this area was designated by the local authority as suitable for development. There is no plausible planning reason or explanation as to why this area has been removed from the plans.

Lastly, there are a number of new, empty properties, in and around Leamington, some of these being on the old Potterton site, surely these should all be taken into consideration as part of the total housing stock requirement ?

There is a strong and growing perception that the planners are "pandering" to developers who wish to make a better profit out of building in the North than they can do in the South. This is understandable for the building companies who wish to make a good living, but, in my opinion, you should be thinking of the long term future of the district and trying to retain the essence of the area for future generations who may want to have a green lung separating the two towns of Leamington and Kenilworth, rather than sprawling suburbia.