Testun llawn:
I am writing to express my horror at the new draft Local Plan and the threat it poses to the local area. This plan flys in the face of concerns expressed during the 2012 Local Preferred Options consultation and goes against the professed "Vision" and aims of Warwick District Council. If the Council goes ahead with this it is ignoring its own promises to local residents and the opinions of the local people whose taxes are funding the Council.
The new plan involves an excessive number of new houses concentrated in a small rural area, replacing agricultural land with an urban sprawl. Calling the development a "Garden suburb" will not change the fact that we are talking about thousands of houses on greenfield land. This many houses are NOT needed and certainly not in one place. The local need is for fewer than 6000 new houses by around 2030. This proposal is for more than double that, with 4500 of them south of Warwick. This is larger than the village I live in, which has grown gradually over hundreds of years. Building such a volume of housing all at once, in one area is reckless and unnecessary.
The Council states in its plan that it wishes to "Avoid development in locations which could potentially lead to the coalescence of settlements". Leaving a small section of land around the Tach Brook as the only space between a new sprawl of housing connecting to Warwick Gates, to Whitnash, to Leamington and Warwick is an insulting token gesture and does not address the concerns raised by residents of the area in the Preferred Options consultation of last year. Describing this land as a "Naturalistic open space/ buffer" says it all. We do not want a tiny strip of "Naturalistic" land, we want the natural landscape and agricultural land that is there now. To insinuate that this buffer will mitigate all the problems is at worst blatantly dishonest and at best woefully ignorant and naïve.
This volume of housing will cause an unbelievable increase in traffic and congestion through the area. We have already seen the effects of the Warwick Gates estate on traffic through the village and en route to Leamington and Warwick. This would increase pollution, road traffic accidents and make journey-times much longer. If new schools are added to the mix, traffic problems would be exacerbated further - it is already that case that traffic is about 10 times worse during term time than during school holidays.
The Council also states that it wishes to "Develop sustainable communities". How about protecting exisiting communities? As was shown in the recent consultation on parish boundaries, Bishop's Tachbrook is a strong and thriving independent community with a great history - again, this is being threatened by the plan to build thousands of new houses and practically link us up with the urban area that is Warwick Gates/ Whitnash / Leamington.
What the council is talking about is replacing agricultural and natural landscapes with a vast amount of housing, then as an afterthought, adding in so called "Community spaces" and "Country parks" - some kind of 'fake natural landscape' to ease developers consciences. This does not undo the damage wreaked on the landscape and wildlife. If the Council really cares about preserving the local area and making "Warwick District a Great Place to Live, Work and Visit", it should protect and celebrate its beautiful local landscape, not turn it over to the highest bidder to bulldoze. In building such a large number of houses in one area, you would also effectively be getting rid of any incentive on the part of potential new residents to live here. No one wants to live in a massive estate where roads are congested and overcrowded and local towns full of pollution. People come here BECAUSE of the countryside and relative quiet. Warwickshire is known for its agriculture and landscape and has been throughout history. The Council is also overlooking the impact on Warwick's historic town centre, which is already becoming highly polluted and congested. Don't forget that tourism is a key part of the local industry, being close to Shakespeare Country (I work for the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust) and having the ever-popular Warwick Castle in its midst. We should be aiming to preserve the countryside and local villages as these are part of Warwickshire's 'image/ brand". Tourists do not come here to see thousands of modern houses and villages that have been swallowed up by the growth of the urban landscape. Think how popular the Cotswolds is, with its country lanes, open fields and well-defined villages. If this plan goes ahead, I suspect many visitors will just bypass Warwick and Leamington and make do with visiting other places to avoid the traffic - after all, there won't be much left to see with all of the open fields gone and Warwick town centre reduced to a traffic island.
It is really quite illogical to build such a large number of properties in an area which is never going to be able to provide enough jobs for this many people. Anyone living on such a new development would be compelled to commute by car, when it would make more sense to build new housing on brownfield sites near existing industry. In an era when there is an increasing desire for ecological homes, minimising car journeys, cutting energy use and protecting the environment, this seems like a retrograde step.
I would therefore urge Warwick District Council to reconsider and:
1. Reduce the planned housebuilding for the District to a more reasonable level and not build for the sake of it.
2. Spread the development widely within the district - a few hundred houses at most here and there.
3. Use brownfield land rather than agricultural land and land which is a haven for wildlife.
4. Consider more suitable sites for housing e.g. near workplaces/ cities.
5. Work to reduce traffic, congestion and pollution within the area, rather than increase it.
6. Celebrate and protect our historic and beautiful landscape and make it more appealing to visitors, residents and potential new residents.
7. Stay true to its professed vision and mission and listen to the opinions of EXISTING taxpayers (I for one would not like to stay here if this plan goes ahead).
Everyone can see that this proposed development is completely out of proportion with what is sensible and what is required. This is too many houses, in the wrong places, without thought for the consequences. It is not too late for the Council to do something about this and save our local area and stand up for local people.