Testun llawn:
I have attended a number of local meetings regarding the local plan and do recognise the difficult position elected members and officers have been placed in in pulling this document together. However I continue to feel that it is unfair and untenable.
Just because North Leamington residents got together quickly and financed themselves into a position to lobby and discredit the first plan option of building between Milverton and Blackdown should not mean that there is no development north of the district. One key reason for building affordable family homes in the north was to re-invigorate a fossilising community. The demographic trend in Milverton, Cubbington and beyond is for older people and this is storing up problems for the future. Neighbourhoods and villages work best with a good spread of community - old and young sharing services and supporting each other. An additional reason to re-consider some development in the north of the district is with the successful Coventry/Warwick Gateway developments application. I note officers stated that this will open up jobs for Coventry people more that Warwick District residents but I also believe many will come from and/or want to live in Warwickshire. Because of this late- in-the -day decision I do feel planners should go back to the drawing board on developments north of Warwick district.
In terms of developing close to villages - particularly Hampton Magna - it is now apparent that families purchasing homes here need to have special land checks completed and organise specific insurances to cover the fact that some homes are built on landfill. (When we purchased 37 years ago we believed the site was Budbrooke Barracks but further investigation is showing a land fill sites also). The development land proposed on the outskirts of Hampton Magna could well feature ex-landfill sites and therefore become more expensive tracts to build on or develop. Additionally the local school and doctors surgery are full to capacity and would struggle to cope with additional demands on services - particularly having recently coped with influx of residents from Hatton Park and Chase Meadow.
Feedback on the proposed gypsy and traveller sites includes the unfairness of just how many sites are located around the county town of Warwick. I, and most people I know, recognise that sites need to be developed but again these need to be fairly distributed around Warwick District not only for current residents but also for travelling families to have some choices of where they settle. Planners may well quote that fairness is not a legal requirement but it is certainly a community requirement. I don't believe the developments alongside the A46 (ex Little Chef sites North and South) are appropriate. Not only is one site on green belt land - they are both immediately adjacent to a very fast road and have poor or no walkways or public transport access. Families and domestic animals should not be placed so closely to a fast road and they should have access to available services (see above for lack of school and GP capacity).
I feel the Racecourse site is also inappropriate due to it being placed on a major gateway into the County town and this site is also a transient site for travelling circus/fairground people through out the year - again making this choice an unfair one. Sites such as Barford and Kytes Nest Lane are significantly more appropriate due to their locations. I am also surprised that Radford Semele has little or no development proposals. There is capacity in the school there as well as good road and public transport links.
Please carefully consider all the above. I look forward to the next round of suggestions.