BASE HEADER

In paragraph 2.81 it is proposed to include "Land in the vicinity of Coventry Airport (sub-regional employment site)" among the areas to be removed from the Green Belt. It is national planning policy that changes to the Green Belt can only be made in exceptional circumstances through the Local Plan process involving public consultation and robust examination. On this particular change there has been no public consultation. Indeed the exact opposite has happened. In the previous Revised Development Strategy of June 2013 it was logically argued with some conviction that the area should remain in the Green Belt despite being a possible site for industrial development. The public were therefore reassured that should the very special circumstances to enable development at that site be justified it would require standards of design and mitigation appropriate to the unusual circumstances of developing in the Green Belt.
It was therfore a complete surprise and the exact opposite of the expected policy following the previous stages of consultation in the preparation of the Plan when, without any obvious explanation, the policy was completely reversed in the Publication Draft.
It has been made very clear in the Guidance Notes to this Consultation on the Publication Draft that comments can only be made on the legal requirements and soundness and therefore this consultation cannot itself constitute the public consultation required on the the idea of removal of this particular area from the Green Belt.
However further comments will be made in the evidence to the Enquiry as that will be then be relevant.