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Mr Elliott,

I write in relation to the Local Plan which is currently undergoing public consultation.

To say that "the Plan" is grossly unfair to residents of South Leamington and Warwick is an understatement. Sanctioning the bulk of such a massive development all in one area of the town represents a very ill thought out plan, and one that will create chaos, not just in southern areas of Leamington/Warwick, but across the district.

I have heard of an alternative plan that would distribute housing evenly around the district, and thus mitigating many of the disastrous outcomes of concentrating the developments where they are currently proposed. Surely this represents a fantastic alternative, if we are to have such a number of new homes, and spreads the burden thinly across the district. Such a plan could also benefit smaller local building firms rather than large national developers, and this would help the local economy.

Evenly distributing the housing around both Leamington and Warwick might mean that fewer significant road infrastructure changes would be needed, thus saving the Council money in these times of economic austerity.

Given the volume of housing that is proposed, another option would be to create a whole "new town" outside Leamington and Warwick in open countryside. This could be built from scratch to include schools, parkland, shops and other infrastructure etc, making it largely independent. Again, this would impact far fewer existing residents, and require fewer significant infrastructure changes in the main Leamington/Warwick district.

On the subject of public consultation - the consultation period has recently been extended for the Woodside Farm development in Whitnash. However, 3 other significant developments are proposed nearby:

- Hawkes Farm, North of Harbury Lane, Heathcote (Ref W/13/0607)
- South of Harbury Lane (ref W/13/0606)
- West of Europa Way (ref W/13/0603)

I believe that local residents have not had long enough to digest what the implications of these might be, and would request that a similar extension of the consultation period is granted for these applications.

I am keen to gauge your thoughts on these matters.