Testun llawn:
I am writing to raise my objections and concerns to the Warwick District Local Plan.
I am a resident of Bishops Tachbrook and feel the proposals will have a detrimental effect on the health and well being of many residents, not only in the Village itself but in the surrounding areas of Whitnash and including Warwick and Leamington Spa.
Firstly I would like to raise an objection to the number of houses that is currently in the plan. 12,300 homes seems very extreme. Projections (based on 2011 Census data in 2013) seem to suggest that around 5,400 homes would be needed in the area, allowing for migration and natural growth of the population. Warwick District council's own consultant Gil Hearn gave an Economic and Demographic Forecast Study in December 2012. In this study only 4,405 new homes were needed.
These figures indicate the housing figures in the Local Plan is more than double what is actually needed.
The current Local Plan bases most of the homes in the South of the District. As it stands it would fill a vast area of rural and agricultural land between Warwick, Whitnash and Bishops Tachbrook. Building here would just merge our built areas, making them a single suburban sprawl. Currently there is a rolling landscape with far reaching views. I understand a country park would be planned at the border of Bishops Tachbrook but I feel this would be ineffective as the excessive new homes would be highly visable and the beautiful views we currently enjoy would disappear.
The majority of the housing is proposed to the South of the town centres. This will have a massive impact on congestion making it even more severe at crossings over the canal, river and railway in the area where there is no available solution to the current infrastructure.The current locations of this housing would encourage an even greater car- dependent culture, increasing traffic and worsening congestion on the two North - South routes through Leamington Spa and Warwick.
The concentration of these homes will, I believe, have a detrimental affect on Bishops Tachbrook. There will no doubt be an increase in the traffic on the minor road through the village (Mallory Road). This is already used as a cut through by speeding cars trying to avoid the already overloaded road network. This will have dramatic effect on the community, putting peoples lives at risk crossing a much busier road with motorists driving at speed, whilst trying to access the villages facilities such as the local shop, doctors surgery, community/playing facilities and the primary school. The village could be split in two by this road and go from a community where local children are allowed some freedom and independence to access our excellent play facilities to a community where social isolation is prevelant as they are terrified by a very busy road. An increase in the amount of vehicles passing through will also increase the risk to the health of villager's especially the children with an increase of air pollution and the diseases this is associated with such as lung cancer and asthma.
Indeed the increased number of cars 12,300 homes will bring will have far reaching consequences for our air quality. Already pollution from car exhausts in many streets in Warwick town centre and some in Leamington is already worse than legally permitted. Air quality is needed to be improved on by Warwick District Council but this Local Plan and its transport strategy would exacerbate it further. Long term health of residents would be even more threatened. The local economy with local businesses and tourism would damaged by the Plan .There would no longer be the beauty currently found in historic Warwick or the spa town of Leamington.
There is the consideration of other infrastructure, in theory there is funding for this. However in reality this could surely not be enough. I am a NHS healthcare worker so can see that times are tough currently in the NHS with services being reconfugured and cut to save money. Services are stretched to capacity now so a further 12,300 homes some perhaps with families living in them would push our healthcare facilities beyond breaking point.
The Prosposed Gypsy and Travellers sites are again concentrated in the same area. There are several sites prosposed around Bishops Tachbrook. One site situated on Banbury Road/ Mallory Road is extremely unsuitable as it is so near a busy main road ( will be increasingly busier with many more homes just down the road!!) so is not suitable for the travellers and their families in terms of safety or access. It also currently floods and floods down through the Village through the back gardens of where I currently live. I feel that hardstanding for proposed travellers site will create less surface area for the water to soak away and increase the volume of water flooding down through the Village, instead of just flooding gardens, it will flood through homes.
These sites would also impact on the local facilities, the school is already at capacity and the GP practice is just a branch surgery with limited opening hours.
I feel that the points I have raised just add up to a poorer quality of life and health for those who reside in the south of the District.
I feel there are better alternatives such as lower housing numbers to meet local need, a gradual releasing of land for development as and when demand grows, priority being given to use brownfield sites nearer to schools, shops and railway stations, homes being built close to jobs and cooperating with other local councils instead of competing with them over development.
I would very much appreciate a reply to the objections I have raised.