Testun llawn:
I have now attended 2 public meetings regarding your proposals and would like to formally record my objection to this plan which in my opinion is ill thought out, incompetent and not in the interests of anyone other than developers.
Where do I start..........
Well firstly the number of homes planned bear no resemblance to what is actually required in the area. Based upon census data from 2001 and 2011 homes for local needs are estimated at 5,400, not the 12,000+ which is the total number proposed the the Revised Development Strategy, with the majority earmarked for the South Warwick area. It came to my attention yesterday that Stratford District Council are also planning circa 4000 homes in and around Gaydon (with 1900 at Lighthorne) to cater for the expansion of the Jaguar/LandRover/Aston Martin facility. It would appear to me that both councils are vying for the same customer for the homes and in reality the volumes planned by Stratford can be removed from the South Warwick plan for this reason (as Gaydon falls under Stratfords juristriction). As these councils share a common border common sense would ensure that there is formal communication between the two parties to ensure a sensible plan for the area as a whole and I believe no discussions have taken place. This should be addressed before any plans are passed. The council will counter agrue that the difference is required to cope with the projected upturn in the economic climate, but the reality is that the land earmarked for employment will cater for circa 2000 jobs. The most recent development at Morrisons has land adjacent earmarked for employment in a very prominent position but this is now being proposed for Retail as business is not interested. So in reality there are too many homes planned with not enough employment opportunities for the prople who may live in these homes - the plan is not sustainable or balanced and is clearly a charter for developers to 'make hay'. This cannot be allowed to happen and must be stopped.
There are also 6305 homes in the district that lie empty. Why are these not being utilised? In the last 5 years a grand total of 251 homes have been taken back into supply. I would suggest that the council should focus more effort into utilising what is already available rather than build more than is necessary
If you look at more recent developments that have been built - Warwick Gates and Chase Meadow, both these developments have proved unsustainable - what evidence is there in place to prove anything will change in this plan. a recent survey has posted that 76% of traffic passing through Warwick is transient and Warwick is a Conservation Area. How will this plan affect the conservation area? The answer is no one knows as this plan does not cover this point.
My main issue with this plan relates to Air Quality and Traffic Congestion which go hand in hand.
Air pollution today is above the legal limits - this will get much worse if this plan is adopted and nothing appears to be happening to resolve todays situation let alone if thousands of cars flood the area if this plan is implemented. As an Asthma sufferer I know only too well how intolerable air pollution is. We are also lucky to have many schools in the Warwick area (Warwick School, Kings High, Myton, Campion etc) with an abundance of playing fields for the children to enjoy sport. Damage to their long term health is already being done with the poor air quality in the area - all we hear from the Council is how they are going to mitigate any further damage but not what they are going to do to sort it.
Anyone who is a local to this area knows that the roads into Warwick and Leamington from the south are unpassable in peak times and that the Myton Road is the same. The council have a poor track record with Traffic flow - look at the debacle on the roundabout outside Morrisons. In the mornings getting off the Myton Road to turn right onto Europa Way is untenable, the traffic lights make the situation much worse (not better). The other way past Myton School and Warwick School are no better, and they want to put another 3500 homes south of Warwick with no option other than car useage (with an estimated 7000 additional cars) to go about their daily events. I said earlier that 76% of traffic through Warwick is transient, this will increase with these plans and the poor old bridge over the Avon will not cope.
Loss of green space and arable farming land - the green land around South Warwick is environmentally sensitive. It would appear that this argument has been dismissed, wrongly in my opinion
Infrastructure has also been overlooked.
Warwick Hospital - can it cope. Discussions have taken place but nobody has said that it can
There are not enough school places for the influx of young people even with the build of additional primary schools
There is no provision in the plan for young people - whare are they going to go, what are they going to do, whatever it is will involve a car journey on gridlocked streets.
Warwick is a beautiful tourist destination with wonderful history and attractions that people travel the country to see. Creating a mass urban sprawl where people are unable to make their way around will be the death of Warwick as an historical attraction and harm local business in the long term.
In closing, the Town Council is objecting to this plan. When the current Prime Minister came into office he pledged that local people would be responsible for local decisions. Its clear from the public meetings that local people do not want this plan to go ahead. Unfortunately our District Council only has two councillors in its executive affected by this plan so politically are not able to make local opinion count.
Everyone accepts there is a need for more housing to cope with local needs, but this plan is not the answer.
One solution would be to make all the brownfield land proposed for development into Green Belt. This can be done and is not illegal (to my knowledge). Making this happen would allow proper consideration of how to allocate development land with due regard to exceptional circumstances required to build on it, and therefore a plan with substinance could be developed
I move for this plan to be rejected in its entirity