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To Whom it May Concern,


We, as one of the residents of Lamintone Drive, are supportive of the further development of Leamington Spa but we have some concerns. We have seen the creation of Warwick Gates and do not wish to see another such estate being created just to satisfy a demand for housing. Any additions to the town have to be considered thoughtfully to ensure that it is successful for all residents. So far, there has been much speculation as to what the work at Old Milverton will eventually look like but nothing concrete for residents to actually look at; no designs, plans etc. Is the estate going to be made up of houses or a combination of flats and houses?


Our concerns fall into the following categories:


Access:


Any development to the north of the town would have to factor in the creation of new roads and the widening of existing ones. The increase in traffic coming from a new estate would put huge pressure on the network that is already saturated. There would have to be provision for improved bus links to encourage people to leave their cars at home. At the same time, there would have to be adequate parking to accommodate all of these extra cars.


Facilities:


At present, the facilities that exist are meeting our needs but this would not be the case if a new estate was built. What provision is there for new schools, nurseries, doctors surgeries, shops and green spaces? There have been reports that Brookhurst is having to turn away potential pupils because of oversubscription. Have these been factored into any plans that have been submitted?


On the point of shops, the development of Morrisons, Aldi, Lidl and the expansion of the Leamington Retail Space on Europa Way shows that the south of the town is very well served. With the addition of all the new traffic, Princes Drive may not be able to cope and be prone to gridlock as well as surrounding roads.


Drainage:


A real concern for this household is where is all the water going to drain to. The field behind our house can normally prevent our house from flooding with the brook working especially hard. The rain from this last winter was the most threatening since the Easter flooding of 1998. On that occasion, two houses had their garages flooded and were lucky not to have their ground floors flooded. This year, muddy water had to escape from the field at the top of Guy's Cliffe Avenue and it nearly overflowed. The pictures below was taken around Christmas Eve of 2012 and shows the level of water behind our property.
















If houses were built on these fields, where would the water drain to? The ground would have to be levelled out to get the maximum number of properties. If they had block paved driveways, how would this help the drainage? Gardens landscaped to be beautiful but no thought as to drainage.


Our fear is that this could be ignored and at least the older properties could have an increased risk of flooding. From the point of view of new residents, they need to be aware that there is a risk in this area despite the fact that we are a fair distance from the river.


Green Space:


By building a new estate here, the town is going to lose a valuable resource that so many people take advantage of. The allotments that are scattered in the area develops a community of its own that is very hard to replicate. The number of walks that would be destroyed by houses and concrete that bring so much happiness to people in the local area. The village of Old Milverton, would lose its beauty if there was no division between it and the main town. It would also be damaged by the increase in traffic.


Can the town cope?:


Any increase of population in the town is going to place more strain on facilities. Budget cuts over the last few years has done nothing to help but for example, the swimming pools cope with more children having lessons with their school? Can the car parks cope with another five hundred to seven hundred cars? I was lucky to get a space at St Peters at 11am on a Friday in the top deck so are there going to be further development of shops in the town? Has the train station got the capacity? Warwick hospital, like all hospitals is stretched already. What about the future?


Is the north of the town the best place for any further development? In our eyes, Warwick Gates appears to be an estate that has never really been finished. It has had to fight for facilities to be built on its doorstep and could really benefit from schools and the like that would have to built to meet the demands of further expansion. Europa Way is an ideal trunk road that could be expanded in comparison to the Kenilworth Road. Traffic would be better balanced because of the number of facilities in existence over the river. Any further development would really benefit the south side of the Parade because it would be forced to improve and provide more services for residents.