Re: Revised Development Plan for new homes and travellers sites

We object to this new local plan on the following grounds:

* The National Planning Policy Framework requires sustainable development which meets an established housing need. Local builders and developers already have around 5000 homes in the pipe line and are not developing them as they see a chance to get their hands on even more sites through this plan. 12300 new homes easily exceeds the demand for this area and to give approval of this plan would mean that even more Greenfield land would be lost to the local agricultural businesses. We are told that there are currently around 5000 unoccupied homes in the district that could be taken over, refurbished and returned to the housing market.

* The suggested sites are mainly to the south of Warwick and Leamington. This is unacceptable as both towns have a river running through which means bridges have to be crossed when travelling North to South and vice versa. The road infrastructure cannot take the extra traffic from all these homes. There are suggested improvements to Europa Way and Banbury Road but you can make them dual carriageways for all their length but you cannot change what is at the end of them i.e. the river bridge over the Avon at Warwick followed by The Butts, the narrowest road in Warwick, where two cars cannot pass at the same time. (Not mentioned in the traffic assessment!) Moving East to Europa Way again a dual carriageway would only mean shorter queues but two of them instead of one. What faces them? Princes Drive with the narrow railway bridge. (Again not mentioned in the traffic assessment) The recent so called improvements have made no difference to the traffic flow. You have provided 3 lanes at exits of Europa Way, Myton Road, and Old Warwick Road and 2 lane entrances for each making a total of 5 lanes at these points but this reduces to a total of 3 lanes at the railway bridge so the 'pinch point' has not changed. The single lane from Park Drive towards Myton Road is too narrow for buses and lorries. They have to straddle the lane markings to avoid hitting the bridge with their mirrors. The decision to stop traffic exiting Park Drive from turning right into Princes Drive or going straight ahead into the Recycling Centre and making them travel up to the island at Myton Road and then go full circle around to get back into Princes Drive is just stupid. It has added extra traffic to the Myton Road island which makes things even worse. (Again not included in the traffic assessment) Moving further East you come to Tachbrook Road. An already very busy single carriageway road that leads to Lower Avenue and the railway bridge. (Funny this was also missing from the traffic assessment) This cannot be improved at all. The other problem with this is that through traffic here has to meet up with through traffic from Princes Drive. The considerable extra volume of traffic cannot be absorbed with the suggested 'improvements'. The traffic assessment only states that there are highway land problems in the Princes Drive and Warwick New Road areas. (Another railway bridge in Warwick New Road)

* There was previously a way around Warwick and Leamington by using the A452 but the section from Greys Mallory to the Longbridge island was taken over by the M40 motorway. This meant that traffic now had to go onto the M40 and immediately come off at the next junction, the Longbridge island. This is ridiculous and is the reason for the significant increase in traffic congestion on Banbury Road and Europa Way. The M40 is extremely busy at this junction, so much so that proposals are in place to utilise the hard shoulder as a normal traffic lane with improved lane management. To add even more traffic for just a short stretch of road is not on. The missing stretch of road must be replaced before the towns come to a complete halt.

* To make things worse for the Banbury Road entrance to Warwick is the proposal by Stratford upon Avon District Council for a new village of 4800 homes in the Gaydon and Lighthorne area. Where is this? Why on the Banbury Road! This will add considerable extra traffic onto the Banbury Road approach to Warwick and the Europa Way approach to Leamington. This proposal must be taken into account when considering the revised local plan. They cannot be taken into account separately.

* The largest number of proposed new homes are all South of the rivers yet all emergency services are to the North i.e. Police, Fire, Ambulance, Hospital so all would have to cross the river bridges on roads that cannot cope. People would die waiting for these emergency services especially at rush hour times. When Warwick Fire Station was being considered for closure we said that Warwick residents living in the Myton Road area would suffer we were told that a fire engine would reach us from Leamington fire station in 6 minutes! Only by helicopter was our reply yet it was still closed. This was on the advice of consultants who admitted that they had only used national figures and had not looked at the local picture! Warwick Hospital would not be big enough to cater for another 24000 local people and it cannot expand further as it is built on an enclosed site. This means that more emergency patients would have to be taken to Coventry with significant danger of death.

* All sites South of Warwick and Leamington are on Greenfield land. This is productive farmland and produces food that is wanted by this country. We cannot continue to remove farmland as the country's food needs for the future will be even higher than at present. We cannot rely on importing food as there have been big changes in the global food market particularly from Asia with China buying ever more supplies from some of our traditional suppliers. There is a proposal for a 'Country Park' but this will be used the same way as the present 'areas of restraint' off Myton Road. What is the value of these as they are simply ignored when a suggestion of new homes comes along. When the next allocation of homes is required we know that this country park will disappear. This Greenfield land is just as important as the green belt to the North of Warwick and Leamington. It should have been green belt anyway.

* At present the air pollution in the centre of Warwick exceeds the legal limit so how can any new homes be allowed. How can we get this air pollution problem solved? We do not know the answers but surely the health of the residents must be given priority over any further damage caused by around 18000 more cars locating to the area. Warwick District Council is legally required to reduce air pollution to improve air quality. How can you even consider these development plans which can only make things worse? The suggested town centre initiative for road improvements includes a ban on parking in Smith Street followed by a ban on turning right into St Nicholas Church Street. That would speed traffic flow along Smith Street but would kill off all the shops and restaurants there. What good would that do to the town? If you cannot turn right at the end of Smith Street how would you get back to the Banbury Road for residents South of the River? Turn round in the small Sainsbury's car park or at the Wharf Street junction? Or use the road in front of the St John's shops and turn onto Coventry Road?

* Drainage could be a big problem to the residents in the Myton Road areas. When the new Round Oak School was built the first time we had heavy rain a number of properties in Myton Crescent were flooded. Extensive land drains and ditches had to be installed. So imagine what would happen with 1150 houses built on the slope up to Gallows Hill. Where would all the surface water go? Downhill to the existing houses that's where.

* The prospect of significant expansion in employment in this area is very small. Certainly not enough to accommodate families in 12300 homes. The only area of supposed new employment is the Gateway scheme (on green belt land!) by Coventry Airport. They say that up to 12000 jobs will be created. We do not feel that it would be anywhere near that figure. Anyone living in the proposed developments south of the river would add to the commuting through Warwick or Leamington or add more traffic onto the M40. An area of designated employment land at Warwick Gates has just been given planning permission to build houses on as 'there is no demand for employment land as the developer could not get anyone to move there'.

* Regarding gypsy and travellers sites we believe that the Council should stand up to the government and say no to these sites. Gypsies and travellers are not British; make no contributions to society in the form of National Insurance; pay no Tax; cost local authorities thousands of pounds to clear up their mess left behind so we should not be made to cater for them.

In summary

We object to this plan on the grounds of the unnecessary number of new homes, inadequate road network for the unfair placing of the majority of these homes south of Warwick and Leamington Spa, increases in air pollution, inadequate provision of emergency services, taking away good farm land and destroying the valuable beautiful environment of this district.