Testun llawn:
I am writing in protest of the proposed Traveller/Gypsy sites to be located around the estate of Chase Meadow.
I have lived in Warwick all my life to which I am very proud of.
Warwick is a historical town, I believe it is actually the oldest historical town in Warwickshire, which has always struggled to have sufficient facilities/attractions/ marketing for visitors to want to spent time walking around the town rather than just visiting Warwick Castle. Warwick has just started turning a corner with more shop units being occupied with independent shops and cafe's. It is now an attractive option for visitors to spend the day wondering the streets and cafes. To have a permanent traveller site at the key entry into Warwick, especially at the edge of Warwick Racecourse which attracts many visitors each year to its race meetings, will discourage tourists from doing anything other than visiting the Castle.
For many years Warwick people and the Council have worked hard to keep the visual beauty of Warwick untouched. To see caravans and vans as your first image of 'historical Warwick' would certainly not fit the image Warwick Tourism has tried to portray over the years. This in turn will mean that many of the shops and cafe's that rely on this revenue will close, with loss of local jobs and revenue to the Council from business rates etc.
Whilst I appreciate the 4 sites proposed around Chase Meadow, have been done so because of the facilities and public transport on Chase Meadow, the bigger picture needs to be considered.
The local schools are full to capacity. Aylesford a school I attended as a child has already lost most of its sport ground to allow for expansion. It cannot possibly sustain any further developments and with the new houses already approved for Chase Meadow, it is at its limit. Unlike Heathcote which has included in its plans further schools and facilities, the new houses on our estate do not have that luxury and will have to be absorbed within the already stretched facilities.
The Doctors surgery on the estate does not have capacity for its current patients with appointments having to be book quite far ahead, emergency appointments are impossible, and I have still been unable to secure a NHS dentist in the area due to long waiting lists so am currently paying privately.
The roads on the new part of Chase Meadow are currently unadopted by the council as they say the lake is not deep enough to deal with the run off of rain water from the houses currently and proposed on the estate. How is removing more porous land close to the estate going to help that. I would say that it will add more to the issues. I am surprised that the land is even suitable to be made hard standing with the Gogg Brook and the annual flooding of the field by Budbroke Lodge, as it does each year.
The site on Hampton Road itself does not have sufficient access on what is already a busy main road into Warwick for the additional traffic this will bring. The road itself is already prone to flooding which causes traffic issues during these periods. As above, this will happen more often if fields are replaced for hard standing.
The deeds on my property detail that we cannot have caravans, commercial vehicles etc in view of ground floor properties. This was an attraction to me and many residents when purchasing the properties as it retained the natural beauty of the estate in keeping with the expectation of Warwick. How can a caravan site only metres from properties with these restrictions on 'houses' be granted. Does that mean that the conditions on our properties enforceable?