Object

Village Housing Options and Settlement Boundaries

Representation ID: 60619

Received: 18/12/2013

Respondent: Mrs Elaine Kemp

Representation Summary:

Strong objection to Hatton Park preferred site.
Proposed development land is significant to eco water system, liable to flooding, and home to many animals and bats.
Significant traffic congestion on A4177 through village will be exacerbated by new developments. It is an accident blackspot. Gridlock occurs if there is an accident on M42/M40.

Full text:

Re: New Local Plan - Strong objection for additional housing on land connected to Hatton Park R115. R126.

I am putting forward my objection against WDC building a further 70 - 90 houses on Hatton Park, and would like to know why this decision has been reversed.
When two years ago, 'Sally Jones/Development Services', advised in an email to those present at a meeting in July 2011, held at Hampton Magna Village Hall, that there would be no further houses built on Hatton Park.

A piece of land referred to as R115 in the 2013 Local Plan, lies at the back of my house, and I beleive forms part of a water balancing tank system.
When we moved to our house sixteen years ago, we were advised that this field was very significant to the eco water system, and no further houses could be built on this land, as it would upset the balancing system.

Every time there are heavy down falls of rain this field adjacent to the A4177 (R115) floods, and therefore would seem not be deemed to be an appropriate piece of land to use.
The Eco environment would also be destroyed as we have a number of different wild animals roaming around these fields and also there are bats nesting in this area.

Currently there are 80 houses spread over Tidmington Close, Crombroke Grove and Ebrington Drive which are located next to R115.
There are approximately two cars per household. This equates to between 100 - 150 cars coming from two Cul de sacs onto Ebrington Dive , and then Charingworth Drive onto the A4177. Three quarters of these families use their cars go to work/school runs, each morning and then throughout the day, and then those left will use these roads around 3/4 times a day.

We moved to this lovely rural location sixteen years ago, and since then there has been a dramatic increase in traffic using the A4177.
During the school term there are now even more buses ferrying children to various schools in and around this 10 mile radius catchment area.
The school buses now have to leave half an hour earlier than a few years ago, due to the heavy traffic and congestion that besets the Birmingham Road everyday during the school period.

Also there is a bottle neck everyday for residents trying to get off Charingworth Drive onto the A4177, and as there is no proviso for a yellow junction box in place to allow traffic off Hatton Park, it is a fight always to leave the estate, and this adds to the inner roads on Hatton Park also becoming jammed.

Only two weeks ago there was an accident on the M40 at junction 15 which caused gridlock for 10 miles in and around Hatton Park and there were cars queuing within Hatton Park up Barcheston Drive, and Charingworth to get onto the A4177.
If a further 70 - 90 houses were to be built on R115, this would add a further 140 - 180 cars on top of the already 100 - 160 cars using Tidmington Close and Crombroke Grove onto Ebrington Dive and then onto Charingworth Drive.

As there are only two exit routes out of Hatton Park, it would be assumed that if R115 was developed this would effectively cram all the traffic through one road which already has two Cul de Sacs.

The length of the road could not allow such a volume of traffic to work. On top of which there is no infrastructure in place to deal with the ever increasing traffic jams that
happen on a daily basis on the A4177. This can be exasperated on occasions when there is an accident on the M40/M42 and then traffic will use the A45/A4177 to bypass the motorway congestion , and adding to the misery already being experienced.

The A4177 is now recognised as one of the top ten hotspot roads in the UK as having more than average amounts of accidents, throughout the year.
There is not a week goes by when the police or medical services are not attending some incident or other within a three mile radius of Hatton park.

The recent introduction of 40MPH from Hatton Village hall all the way down to the Stanks roundabout has done nothing to deter drivers to slow down.
There should be a speed monitor in place near to the Falcon Public House advising people to slow down, instead of painted 40MPH signs on the road.
The 40 MPH speed monitor near to Shell garage has not worked for the last two years, and we see and hear speeding vehicles all day long.

In my opinion the infrastructure surrounding Hatton Park cannot sustain any further additional homes or gypsies sites , which in turn would bring even more traffic issues.

Warwick hospital has reached it's capacity in terms of expansion and the two local schools are also at full capacity.

Additional homes anywhere in this vicinity will just bring Warwick and Leamington to a grid lock situation. This is already happening at peak times.

Furthermore within these plans there is very little being offered for the aging population in terms of retirement homes or residential care home
With the price of land ,how can affordable housing be built on green belt land.

The evidence being put forward within our Parish shows that the statistics WDC have put together do not give the real picture. When the Parish agreed to
Hatton Park being developed twenty years ago they fulfilled their obligation in terms of houses needed and beyond.

We appreciate that additional developments have to be considered over the next 15 years, but there are certainly many other areas away from Hatton Park which
can accommodate additional housing without causing what is already a very chaotic situation, which cannot be addressed in the next ten years.

We accept that the WDC have to make allowances for Gypsies sites within in our county, but again R75/R125 is not the area to be considering such a site, as all of the above comments
reflect there is no infrastructure to deal with this.

As one who is heading towards the aging population it seems to me that we should learn lessons from other countries in the way they have developed
new housing complexes. The infrastructure is already in place, allowing people to use buses and trains to ease the congestion on their roads.

I feel sorry for the next generation, and hope that our beautiful countryside is managed correctly over the next twenty years, and not churned up, and the legacy's such as Hatton Park
are turned into ghetto's .