Testun llawn:
Further to the flier recently sent to local residents by the four councillors copied in here and their request for local residents to express their views to the Council Planning Department please take the e-mail chain already sent below as my formal and strong objection to your proposals to place a permanent Traveller Site on Stratford Road.
If anymore information is required please let me know. I think I have evidenced below as much in what has not been answered as has been answered the outrageous nature of these proposals both in the nature of the loss of amenity implied, the siting of this potential site on EH&S grounds and most certainly the process followed.
I am not sure anybody of a rational disposition locally would have much faith when a site appears at the last minute with an opaque plan about further consultation and local Councillors openly give a 'tough luck yet again Warwick' message. The procedures you follow maybe 'correct' but are they inherently fair and democratic?
I can only once again urge you to move against these unfair and inequitable proposals for all the reasons around health and safety and reduction of amenity I state below and add again that whatever the thinking on the Council please do not expect this end of Warwick to be the soft touch I worry many on the Council think it is, as evidenced by the ignoring of previous consultations and the resulting unprecedented scale of urbanisation and development in the past decade.
In lieu of any response to my notes and points below could you perhaps at least respond to the following simple points for me?
* in another e-mail one of the councillors has commented to me that Warwick's representatives are effectively being ignored on this issue by an alliance of Leamington and Kenilworth representatives and others who live in these towns who are determined to ensure the development you speak of is not on their doorstep. Could you perhaps comment on this?
* while very few locally have any faith in any further consultation given the ignoring of views expressed at the first one and the 'sneaking in' of this site at the very end, can you provide details of how this consultation will work? Given our local representatives are seemingly unable or unwilling to represent us we are looking to set up an activist council tax payer network to study techniques used elsewhere in the UK to force attention and change to what is being foisted upon us here.
* also as a council tax payer I note with interest that other Councils in the UK have been struck with claims for compensation due to damage, increased insurance premiums, reduced house price values and general reduction in amenity where similar overdevelopment has been allowed near longstanding and new residential areas. I would be interested to know what contingency planning you have done around this?
* over the last week most of this side of Warwick leading right to the centre has had to put up with a constant foul stench from the sewage works. Allowing businesses (why would they move here?) and fixed residential pitches in an area where people would have to suffer this far more seems more than peculiar.
I'm sure you will be aware the gut reaction from local residents is this looks
somewhat 'sharp', ie widescale local opposition to the sites proposed has lead
to a new site somehow appearing and this rapidly seeming to develop into a
desired option. All of this in an area of town where it might be thought the
residents are somewhat in many cases older and might not pick up on the news, or
actively object. I'm sure this isn't the case but please be aware this is the
common view locally yet again eroding any faith in local democracy.
I note what you say about an assessment around flooding, road access etc but
find it extremely hard to understand the logic therein given some of the
Council's previous decisions about access into the Chase Meadow development from
Stratford Road, flood protection, road usage and lighting in the same area.
Again I doubt this will make any sense to anyone locally and simply look like
another imposition eroding quality of life in this area of what was once a truly
special historic town. The employment use rationale given the many vacant
business premises around Warwick and even nearby Chase Meadow seems most
peculiar.
I note your comments about further consultation but given the sudden emergence
of this site it is hard to be confident. The views of local residents against
the inexorable urbanisation of Warwick allowed by the Council and encouraged by
developers of course seems to be pushing against a one way street; were the
widescale views against further development in this part of Warwick heard at the
consultation at Aylesford School and elsewhere something that was even
considered when this new site 'popped up'? It is far from clear they were
Just a note to point out to you the wide and almost universally held
disappointment by local residents and your electorate that after years of
increasing urbanisation, dominance of traffic and reduction in public services
such as street lighting and cleaning, the Council seems set to approve the
siting of a business development and a traveller site on Stratford Road this
week. Given all the factors I mentioned frankly nobody locally can understand
why this is being allowed to go ahead and would urge you if you have a genuine
interest in the view of local residents to vote against. It seems as if the 100
percent opposition shown at local consultation meetings is of no interest.