Testun llawn:
Firstly, I am disgusted that not one employee of Warwick District Council attended the recent meeting organised by Chase Meadow Residents Association. Over the last 6 years I have worked as part of the hospital team building and commissioning the QE hospital in Birmingham. Every step of the way, at least one hospital Director attended all residents meetings, no matter how volatile and difficult. For the record, the meeting last Thursday was very professional, and full of residents desperate for information. I think you and your team should be ashamed of the lack of consultation with residents who live close to the proposed site near Stratford Road. The majority of people in the area work full-time and many commute, and so would never be able to attend your public meetings at the community centre during working hours.
I would like to express my objections to the proposes site.
The site is situated on a flood plain. We moved to Warwick 7 years ago, the property we bought had been flooded approximately 10 years before we bought it. This almost stopped us buying the house. As commuters, we had many locations close to the M40 to choose from. Although, I know flood risks can be alleviated, I would like to know at what cost please? Both my husband and I are top rate tax payers and so we are keen to know how much will be spent on flood alleviation schemes? Indeed, has this even been costed out?
The site access plans are very unclear. I am concerned about the additional traffic on the Stratford Road, in and out of Warwick. Although the sites are permanent, I know from experience they can attract large numbers of additional temporary/ semi-permanent visitors.
We recently moved from the Stratford Road to Chase Meadow, and would not have considered buying a property so close to the travellers site if we had known. We met with a planning officer at the council to go through the lists of possible sites in the summer 2014, this site was not on the list. We know two Jaguar Landrover employees who were both looking to buy the new Bovis homes, they are now looking in Stratford. This is one of the impacts your decision will have on the local economy.
When we lived on the Stratford Road, I reported two incidents of theft from my car and garden, two years in a row. These will be logged with the police. I witnessed the theft and criminal damage caused to my car, the perpetrators were temporary travellers walking past my house in a drunken state.
In the spring/summer 2010, during a bank holiday weekend I visited the the Hilton hotel. I had recently joined the gym there. The main entrance had security men, and all of the door had been locked with chains and padlocks. I assumed a high profile person was visiting, and asked why the hotel was inaccessible. The security guard explained the travellers had cause £100k of damage to the hotel bar and restaurant the year before during the same bank holiday weekend. This proposed site, so close to two hotels, will have a negative effect on tourism. The small, beautiful town of Warwick will become less appealing to tourism, this will have affect the local economy.
I would like to request, under the freedom of information, when exactly was the Stratford Road site discussed for the first time publicly available and who was the first individual who bought the site to the table?