Village Housing Options and Settlement Boundaries

Object

Representation ID: 61356

Received: 20/01/2014

Respondent: Various Residents of Radford Semele

Agent: Martyn Bramich Associates

Heritage and Setting.

The two significant listed buildings (St. Nicholas Church and the White Lion Pub) adjacent to it and, as such, these are heritage assets.

Planning Policy Statement 5 (PPS 5) makes it clear that the setting of a heritage asset must be protected and that alternative locations must be considered if harm would be done to a heritage asset by site development. Additionally Warwick Museum has confirmed that historic artefacts have been discovered in Site (1).

The 1994 Inspectors Report.

Site (1) was considered for development and this led to a planning inspector's report being prepared. That report rejected the site for development and Warwick District Council put forward a strong rejection of the site as well. The principal objections raised at that time are still valid today. New housing demands should not be used to change the attitude towards Site (1) as other sites within Radford Semele could accommodate houses closer to the natural heart of the community. The report is consistent with the approach taken by Warwick District Council is dismissing an application for development on site 1 in 1984.

Flooding.

The Environment Agency flooding map for the area shows that parts of the preferred site have medium to high risk of surface water flooding.

Highways Issues.

A Transportation Statement has been prepared by Woods Ferrer Ltd. The report is provided as an appendix to the objection.
The statement confirms that the preferred site (site 1) is on the wrong side of Southam Road being on the opposite side of the road to the village services forcing pedestrians to cross the busy main road. There is a pedestrian crossing, however, pedestrians are likely to cross the road at other locations and this is not desirable in highway safety terms.
Access to the site off Offchurch Lane would result in poor junction spacing and queues would worsen.
It would be undesirable for all traffic likely to be generated by the development of site 1 to pass through the Offchurch Lane junction.
It would be equally undesirable for the other access option at Church Lane to have all site traffic passing through the crossroads junction with School Lane and Southam Road.

Object

Representation ID: 63550

Received: 20/01/2014

Respondent: Various Residents of Radford Semele

Agent: Martyn Bramich Associates

Site 2 is easily accessed. The site has adequate vehicular visibility in both directions. Street lighting is also available and traffic generated would be easily accommodated. Eastbound traffic would not have to pass through the village. Site 2 is a sustainable and accessible location that links in with the main village. Site 2. Warwick District Council has discounted Site (2) as a preferred option. It is believed that the reasons for rejection are not valid. The rejection was made on two grounds:-
Site Access- WDC said that access to the site could not be achieved however, a report from a traffic specialist is attached in an appendix and it shows that safe vehicular access can be achieved. and
High Visual Impact- Building on Site (2) was said to be undesirable because of high visual impact. However, the assessment of visual impact was made by WDC by reference to a very large area of land extending from the village boundary all the way down to the Fosse Way. In reality, Site (2), comprises a small part of the field adjoining the village. Therefore, the visual impact on Site (2) would be small compared to the permanent damage to a heritage site (Site 1) which has important listed buildings adjacent to it.

Object

Representation ID: 63551

Received: 20/01/2014

Respondent: Various Residents of Radford Semele

Agent: Martyn Bramich Associates

We would therefore suggest that the village boundary for Radford Semele as proposed in Section 7, part 12 of the Village Housing Options and Settlement Boundaries Consultation is amended to Delete the preferred option Site (1) Replace site 1 with Site (2).