Testun llawn:
1. The EXCEPTIONAL CIRCUMSTANCES required by the National Planning Policy
Framework to remove the land North of Milverton from the Green Belt have
not been demonstrated by Warwick District Council.
2. The proposed development is to support Coventry City Council's housing
need. There are sustainable sites closer to Coventry that should be used in
preference to the land North of Milverton to reduce unnecessary commuting,
inevitable congestion and further road construction.
3. Precedence for releasing land from the Green Belt requires the "value"
of potential sites to the Green Belt to be taken into account and those
with the least value to be removed from the Green Belt first. WDC, in
cooperation with Coventry City Council, has assessed sites on the edge of
Coventry as being of lower Green Belt value. Even if development at Old
Milverton was acceptable as a sustainable location for development, there
are sites with a lower Green Belt value that should be used in preference
to the land north of Milverton. Just looking at a google map of Coventry, I
estimated that probably up to 1/5th of Coventry is still undeveloped.
Surely Coventry City Council should be looking to 'infill' these areas
(which are surely of little environmental and no agricultural value)
instead of offloading its housing problems onto other local areas?
4. The "green lung" between Leamington and Kenilworth will be reduced
to less than 1 1/2 miles.
5. The picturesque northern gateway to the historic regency town of Royal
Leamington Spa will be destroyed.
6. Highly productive farming land will be lost together with long
established wild life habitat. Having known the farmer for several years
and working in the industry I definitely know this to be true. The world
has an impending food crisis. The worlds population is set to nearly double
from 6 to 11 billion by 2050. We cannot feed the current world population
now and we are not 'self sufficient' in food production in this
country. We can ill afford to turn farmland over to housing
7. The residents of local towns will be deprived of an area which is highly
valued and sustainable for walking, running, cycling, riding, bird watching
and is also used by local schools for educational walks. We walked through
the proposed development area on the afternoon of the 2nd April. During our
10min walk through the area we counted 28 people using the footpath! There
must be hundreds, if not thousands of local residents who enjoy this
beautiful area of greenbelt regularly who would think the same.
8. Surely the 3000? New homes that are being built on the southern edge of
Leamington will satisfy the local housing market for the foreseeable
future. They are much closer to the towns major employers as well, keeping
traffic movements to a minimum.
9. In practice it is unlikely that people who want to live and work in
Coventry will buy houses on land North of Milverton and therefore this
development proposal will not support Coventry's housing need.
10. The proposed park-and-ride scheme is unsustainable because:
* There will be no dedicated buses, so users will have to time visits to
coincide with the bus timetable. In my opinion this would be a waste of
time. The buses between Leamington and Kenilworth are usually 75% filled
anyway. This plan would not IMO reduce the number of people coming from
Kenilworth/Coventry by car. A much better solution would be to increase the
number of buses running between these 3 places allowing residents a better
option than driving to Leamington.
* The site is too close to Leamington. It would be better if the site was
focused on the A46 roundabout with the A452, which could form part of the
Thickthorn development, and provide for Leamington, Warwick, Kenilworth,
Warwick University and potentially Coventry.
* Much of the traffic using the A452 crosses to the south of Leamington
where there are the major employers. I doubt these people would be using
Public transport since most of them work for a large, local car
manufacturer and have been given company cars!
* Shoppers are unlikely to use the park and ride when there is plenty of
parking in Leamington. I have never had a problem parking in Leamington on
the numerous occasions I came to the town when I lived in Princethorpe,
even after the council decided to restrict street parking in the area to
the north of the town centre to residents only. If there really is
perceived to be a problem with parking, then maybe these restriction should
be lifted?
* Oxford appears to have the only park and ride scheme in the country
which really works and this is because there is such limited parking in
Oxford city centre.
* There are already a lot of car parks in this area of Green Belt with
impervious surfaces all of which reduce the areas ability to absorb
rainfall and contribute to flooding
11. A railway station is unviable because the railway line is in a deep
cutting in Old Milverton making construction impractical
The document is unsound because it is not:
i. Positively prepared
ii. Justified
iii. Effective
iv. Consistent with national policy
* At the Public Examination session on 13 October 2016 dealing with the proposed allocation of this land for residential and Park and Ride uses, we understood that Warwick District Council Officers agreed to remove it from the areas of search for a Park and Ride facility. If you were at the Public Examination and also understood this to be the case please say so in your response.
* The Planning Inspector's required modifications to the Draft Local Plan instructs Warwick District Council to revert to the areas of search for a Park and Ride scheme included in a previous version of the Local Plan, known as the "Submitted Plan", which did not include this site in Old Milverton.
A park and ride anywhere in North Leamington simply does not make any sense and will not benefit anyone, except perhaps future development:
1. It's confused thinking which will hurt the local economy
* Warwick District Council acknowledges that to make Park and Ride work it will have to reduce available parking and increase car parking charges in Leamington BUT it is spending £6 million on a new multi storey car park which will increase available parking.
* Park and Ride will drive shoppers away and will hurt Leamington town centre.
* There is sufficient car parking available in Leamington, no one wants or will use Park and Ride.
2. It's not a proper Park and Ride scheme and the sums don't add up
* It will be a "virtual" service. No dedicated buses. A car park, where passengers leave their cars and catch existing bus services.
* It will increase commuting time and costs not reduce them
* Less parking in Leamington Town centre will significantly reduce car parking revenues to both Warwick District Council and Warwickshire County Council.
* Commuters will probably park in the roads adjacent to Northumberland Road and Cloister Crofts
3. The roads can't cope with Park and Ride
* The Park and Ride operators (Stage Coach) say that dedicated bus lanes on the A452 are necessary.
* There is no money available to make the A452 into a dual carriage way and the proposal has been withdrawn from the Local Plan.
4. It's unlikely to happen and in the wrong place
* The scheme is very unlikely to proceed and the areas of search just blight the neighbouring properties
* If Park and Ride should ever prove necessary or viable a site north of Chesford Bridge should be used to reduce traffic congestion on the A452
SUMMARY
1. The development of 1350 houses is completely unnecessary. We already
have 300? houses being built on the southern edge of the town which will be
much closer to the major employers.
2. Coventry Council should be sorting their own housing needs. Using land
within the city to prevent having to use Greenbelt. Keeping people who live
and work in Coventry, IN Coventry to reduce congestion on the road network.
3. It will ruin the local environment and agricultural land on the edge of
town
4. A Park and Ride is unnecessary, will be under utilised and will again
ruin the local environment.