Testun llawn:
I write to raise my strongest objection to the 2013 Local Plan, and the many planning applications that are associated with it - those that are currently under consideration, and those that are undoubtedly yet to come.
This revised local plan unfairly places the bulk of the apparently needed housing in one concentration to the south of Warwick/Leamington and around Whitnash.
Scale and proportion
This represents a massive long term coalescence of settlements, and one that will result in the loss of significant open space, local countryside and agricultural land, and lead to significant urban sprawl.
As with any significant individual development, a suitable ground for objection includes excessive bulk and scale, or overdevelopment of the area. Placing the majority of proposed housing on such a confined part of the Warwick District as this is surely overdevelopment on a massive scale.
The effect of these potential developments on the existing local communities and infrastructure will be devastating, and I believe have been grossly underestimated by both Warwick DC and the developers.
Effect on local road traffic/infrastructure
The road infrastructure south of Warwick/Leamington and around Whitnash is already stretched. Most households have 2 cars in this day and age, so for up to 4500 houses, you could expect there to be over 9000 extra vehicles parking in and around the various developments, and using the local road network. This does not account for any visitors or other extra vehicles.
With potentially 9000 extra cars, the local road infrastructure is inadequate. Tachbrook Road, Tachbrook Park Drive, Princes Drive, and junctions with Harbury Lane, Europa Way, Gallows Hill, Banbury Road, Whitnash Road and others into the centre of Leamington and Warwick, are already significantly congested at peak times, and even at weekends. At peak times, there are several places where the traffic heading towards the town centres via these few available routes is already a major problem, leading to gridlock, increased pollution etc.
However, the congestion on rural roads outside the town at peak times is also already a problem, and again, adding a load more vehicles to the traffic will make this worse. I refer to out of town junctions such as:
the Harbury Lane/Fosse Way crossroads (itself an accident blackspot),
the Oakley Wood Road/Banbury Road junction beyond Bishops Tachbrook,
the Mallory Road/Banbury Road junction beyond Bishops Tachbrook,
the Harbury Lane/Gallows Hill/Europa Way roundabout
the Europa Way/Banbury Road/M40 feeder road roundabout at Tachbrook Mallory.
The increase in vehicles will compound this further, causing increased pollution, traffic noise, and potential increased danger to pedestrians and children.
The National Planning Policy Framework, Policy DC7 states:
"Policy DC7 goes onto highlight that development will not be permitted where it generates significant road traffic movements, unless mitigation measures are used to avoid adverse impacts."
These developments will generate significant road traffic movements, and I do not believe that mitigation measures will alleviate the problem, certainly on a local level. If all the developments in the area are given the go ahead as part of the Local Plan, the situation will become untenable.
Effect of local services/amenities
The National Planning Policy Framework, Policy DP2 states:
that development will not be permitted where it has an unacceptable adverse impact on the amenity of nearby uses and residents and/or does not provide acceptable standards of amenity for future users / occupiers of the development.
The pressure on local schools in the Whitnash area is already well known, with the primary schools to this being oversubscribed year on year. The development of Warwick Gates without the provision of a new school put added pressure on the existing schools, and the addition of all the various Local Plan related developments will further increase this pressure.
So too will it increase pressure on the local secondary schools. School places are limited, and
adding extra housing will increase the number of applications to schools from this inflated
catchment area, and could mean that some existing residents will not be able to get their children into schools that they could have done previously. The school catchment area may be one reason why many people moved to Whitnash/Warwick Gates/Myton in the first place, but the total number of schools has not changed.
Although there are supposedly schools provisioned for in the various plans, these are not guaranteed to be built, and following the building of Warwick Gates with no schools, local residents are already sceptical.
There is limited access to doctors and dentists surgeries in the Whitnash and Warwick Gates areas already, and adding several thousand extra people around Heathcote and Whitnash development will place further undue pressures on those existing surgeries, as well as any in the South Warwick/Myton areas. The effect on increased numbers on the local hospitals should also be taken into account.
Flood Risk
There are already flood issues in the back gardens of houses on Landor Road and Ashford Road in Whitnash, where water runs off the fields. There have also been previous drainage issues at Warwick Gates, and the land in the surrounding areas is probably not much different, given its proximity to Warwick Gates. Given the scale and density of proposed housing, and potentially large areas of paved/concreted or tarmac surface etc, this problem could get worse for existing residents, and for those on the new developments.
Alternatives to the Local Plan
There are many reasons why the Local Plan represents a disaster for the whole of the South Warwick/Leamington/Whitnash areas, predominantly because of the sheer concentration of most of the districts proposed new housing in one relatively small area.
Alternatives that should be considered include:
* Identifying existing housing that is either derelict or currently unoccupied, and ensuring those houses are brought back onto the market for people to buy and live in.
* Identifying empty industrial units that have been empty for some time, with a view to use the land they occupy for brownfield site housing.
* Identifying an area in the surrounding countryside to use to build an entirely "new town". This town could incorporate the entire 12,500 houses in on development, and be placed somewhere such as around the A46 or M40 to the west of Warwick, which would mean much of the traffic would use these roads to by-pass the towns of Warwick/Leamington. If such a town was built with its own schools, doctors surgeries, shopping areas etc, it ought to be relatively self-sufficient.
* Spreading the numbers of new homes evenly around the district, with lots more much smaller developments. Smaller developments mean a severely reduced impact on the local area where they are located, and spreading it evenly around the district would mean a similarly reduced impact on the road network, schools, health care services, etc. It would also mean the loss of open space/character of individual areas would not be lost, and urban sprawl would be minimized in all locations.
* Smaller developments could then also be given to local builders rather than large national firms, thus helping the local economy.
I believe this 2013 Local Plan is ill conceived, especially given the large land area that the whole district covers. To concentrate most of the total development in one area of the district is not only wrong, but it is also disastrous.
It is disastrous not only for those that currently live nearby, but also for the whole of South Leamington/Warwick and Whitnash, and for those who use the road networks into the town centres.
When there are seemingly many existing houses lying empty around the district, or rented on an ongoing basis rather than being sold to prospective dwellers, or industrial units unoccupied on brownfield sites, then these things should be looked into before large swathes of the local landscape are destroyed forever.
Effective use of existing housing and industrial sites in this way, coupled with the spreading of new developments evenly around the district, or further out in the countryside to create a new town, would make far more sense than to just force excessive numbers of new houses on South Leamington farmland merely because it isn't Green Belt.
The fact that applications have already been submitted for land that is earmarked to be part of the Local Plan, before the Local Plan has been fully agreed and approved is unacceptable. Such applications should not even be considered until such time as the Local Plan has been clarified and the public consultation completed.
Therefore, I hope you listen to the concerns and suggestions of the residents of your district, and act accordingly. This Local Plan cannot be allowed to come to fruition, and I hope Warwick DC come realize that, withdraw it, and refuse all the various planning applications relating to it, namely:
W/13/0776 - 280 homes at Woodside Farm fields
W/13/0607 - 220 homes on Hawkes Farm fields
W/13/0036 - 200 homes on Grove Farm fields
W/13/0858 - upto 100 homes at Fieldgate Lane/Golf Lane, Whitnash
I hope Warwick DC would also refuse any new applications relating to the following:
Myton Garden Suburb - upto 1250 homes
Further development South of Gallows Hill - upto 260 homes
Former Severn Trent Sewage Works - 225 homes
Further development at Grove Farm - 375 homes
Whitnash East/South of Sydenham - 500 homes