Testun llawn:
This is my response to the New Local Plan Preferred Options Consultation
Number of homes
I have read the relevant material on how you calculate that 10,800 new homes will be required in Warwick District over the next 15 years, at a rate of 550 per year. I note that in your consultation questionnaire of 2011 the majority of respondents preferred the option of a lower number of houses per year, fearing overdevelopment and coalescence among other concerns, but it seems these views are being ignored. I would also question the figures predicting a growth in 'high level' and managerial jobs and wonder what and where these jobs are going to be. What jobs are those occupying affordable or low cost housing going to be doing?
Green Belt
The National Planning Policy Framework requires that development on Green Belt land should only be allowed in 'very special circumstances' which Warwick District Council maintains exist here. I would question this and note that you propose to 'alter Green Belt boundaries in line with development sites described'. You acknowledge that 'The Green Belt ... seeks to stop urban sprawl that would harm the open nature and rural character of the open countryside around the towns and the urban areas of the West Midlands', and yet 43% of preferred option sites are on Green Belt land.
In 2009 after substantial investigation and public consultation WDC adopted a development plan, for slightly more homes than the present proposals, which did not require release of Green Belt land. What has changed between 2009 and now? Most noticeably the land to the east of Radford Semele and Grove Farm that was in the 2009 plan has now been removed, in the case of Radford, because of gas pipelines and at Grove Farm because of coalescence with Bishops Tatchbrook. Why is coalescence with Bishops Tachbrook, which is outside the Green Belt, more important than coalescence with Leek Wootton and Kenilworth or the fact that Blackdown will be joined to Leamington? Why has the land at Radford been rejected when the gas pipelines did not pose a barrier to the previous plan?
The results of WDC's Green Belt study which scored Old Milverton and Blackdown highly have been ignored. If Green Belt development is necessary lower scoring land should be used.
Preferred Options and size of developments
According to WDC the Preferred Options have to be, and are apparently, supported by strong evidence. I would like to know what this evidence is.
WDC has presented a preferred plan rather than consulting on options. No options have been presented to the public for consultation. Who has suggested the proposed sites? Has WD carried out its own survey of possible sites, or have all the sites been proposed by developers? Apparently, these sites have become available because landowners wish to sell. Developers are very persistent with their offers to buy land and I'm sure some land owners could easily be persuaded to sell if they stood to make a substantial sum of money.
Some of the proposed developments are huge. 1600 on preferred site 3 would constitute a large village on its own and will merge with site 2, making a total of 2700 houses. This is an enormous development and would require a huge amount of infrastructure. It would not be part of either Warwick or Leamington, but would be a separate community therefore not integrated into either town. Sites 4 and 5 also represent a huge development, much of it on Green Belt.
The Thickthorn development in Kenilworth is also very large at 770 homes for the size of the town. Kenilworth underwent considerable expansion in the 1950s - 1980s; should it be further expanded to such an extent? Also, how was this site decided upon? Much of it is on Green Belt and farmland and includes a nature reserve which would be swallowed up by surrounding houses. It too would not be an integral part of the town. I do not live immediately near it but it does concern me that such a development would be so near the A46, the noise from which we can hear quite clearly from our garden. I don't think building business premises alongside the A46 would lessen the noise much for those living there. A new primary school and other facilities are proposed for this development. Why not build extra houses in some of the villages which could afford to expand and already have schools etc. Leek Wootton is a case in point where the school was once under threat of closure could take an increase in pupils.
Transport
It is estimated that £50,000,000 will be needed to improve roads. Where is this to come from? Regarding the road links between Kenilworth and Leamington, does this mean making the A452 a dual carriageway? This scheme was rejected a few years ago after a successful campaign and the realisation that it was not really needed to alleviate a minor problem of congestion twice a day. It provides a very pleasant green corridor between the two towns and should not be spoilt. Access to and from the Thickthorn development at one end of the A452 and to and from the Blackdown and Lillington developments at the other end would result in a massive increase in traffic. However, a dual carriageway would still lead to congestion at the entrance to either town as it funnelled into a single lane. A dual carriageway linking the A452 with the A46 would cut across a swathe of countryside and spoil the village of Old Milverton.
Communication
I am concerned that many people in Kenilworth are unaware that there has been this consultation period even if they are aware of the Local Plan. It is not enough to assume that everyone reads the local press as many do not, and most people would not be looking at your website unless they were aware of this plan and therefore there was something to look at. There has been some limited information in the library but for most of the time this was tucked away round a corner and I had to ask where it was. I know there have been various meetings but these were not well publicised. The exhibition in Kenilworth Library was staged only a week before the end of the consultation period and again there was little publicity. In the interests of transparency, surely every household should have been leafleted about this very important plan, not just people who had already responded to the questionnaire or registered on your website? I hope the next consultation will be better publicised.
I have other concerns but these are the main ones. Please listen to the views and concerns of the people and don't force this plan on us without giving us alternative options to consider.