Object

Gypsy and Traveller Site Options

Representation ID: 56529

Received: 29/07/2013

Respondent: Steven Price

Representation Summary:

Concerned about the two sites being considered on the A46:

* Inappropriate and dangerous that slow moving vehicles and caravans are allowed to enter and leave these sites on an already overburdened major road which is only a dual carriageway;
* The proximity of young children to such a major road is unthinkable;
* will place an additional burden on local schools and medical services; and
* Potential impacts on amenity of existing local houses.

Full text:

I felt that I needed to contribute my objections on certain areas of the local plan.

The overdevelopment South of the river seems very excessive given the total imbalance between North and South. Previous suggestions including developing North of Warwick seem to have been discounted. I know the argument for "Green Belt" but surely if the times require such a large expansion of the house building requirement, the "green belt" becomes of secondary importance compared to the relevance of the county town and access to and around it. It is inevitable that employment will be attracted to the Coventry Gateway scheme and I note also the proposed Thickthorn development, if the vast majority of housing is situated South of these then surely a very great strain will be added to the already overburdened road infrastructure in and around Warwick. I DO note the proposals for improving the traffic flow but you cannot escape the fact that there are only a limited numbers of crossing points of the river and there do not appear to be any proposals to increase this, hence you perhaps move the traffic to the chokepoints more quickly but there is then still the increased delay due to the limitations of the crossing points. If the view is that employment is more likely to move from North to South then the same arguments apply in reverse! Given the very poor air quality in Warwick itself, I believe higher than medically acceptable, the situation will inevitably get worse particularly in light of the almost complete absence of any form of policing of bad, inconsiderate or illegal parking. In short I object to the housing plan as it is unfairly distributed, will be unable to cope with the increase in traffic and that peoples health will suffer as a result.

Turning to the suggested development around my own village of Hampton Magna, I consider the proposed site unacceptable and the additional burden on our local infrastructure unfair. The land in question may well have been landfill in a previous era and insufficient research has been done to verify this or re-assure the local resident that this was not so. Current property transactions are being affected by this and additional insurance seems to now be required before a transaction can be completed. In addition our local school has already had the burden of Hatton Park placed upon it and the attendant problems with parents driving children to and from school and their very frequently discourteous, inconsiderate, downright dangerous and often illegal parking will only get worse along with those who use the railway station but park in our village. I assume that consideration of the capacity and capability of the Doctors surgery have been duly considered?

The vexing question of "traveller" sites is with us yet again and I note that two sites being considered are those on the A46. Surely it is inappropriate that slow moving vehicles and caravans are allowed to enter and leave these sites on an already overburdened major road which is only a dual carriageway in any case at those points. This MUST be dangerous. The proximity of young children to such a major road is unthinkable and again it will place an additional burden on our local schools and medical services. I leave aside the obvious worries of these sites proximity to the local houses and the inescapable fact that some of these "travellers" are less than honest, it must surely have been considered?