Warwick District Council Local Plan, Village Housing Options and Settlement Boundaries Consultation

1. The Church and many buildings in the surrounding area are listed. Any development of this site will permanently ruin the setting for these beautiful listed buildings. Any decision to build within the setting of a listed building, in this case the church fields must be taken, by statute, as a last resort in cases of exceptional need and where there are no alternatives available. The importance of the Church setting to village identity compounds this responsibility on planners.

There are views from Southam Road across the site to the open countryside surrounding the village and the land provides a setting for the Church. From church Lane the rural surroundings of the Church are even more apparent. These views are integral to the listing. The Church cannot be judged in planning without reference to its setting which visually includes the whole of the proposed Gladman site.

The proposed housing estate will be next to the Church. Villagers will face it head on looking out from St Nicholas Church, running against Council statutory duty to protect the setting of a listed building. Current open countryside would be replaced with a housing estate, in direct contravention of Council duty to protect the setting of a listed building in planning. The wider Church Fields setting, including the Church, the Water Tower, thatched cottages and countryside, are integral to the setting of the listed buildings surrounding this proposed development. Any development would run counter to the duty of the Council to protect that setting.

The site is bordered by many listed buildings, including the Church. The Council is under a statutory duty to protect the historic setting of these listed buildings. Any development of this site will permanently alter the setting and thereby runs against its statutory duty, namely Planning Policy Guidance note (PPG) 15 Planning and the Historic Environment (1994) and PPG16 Archaeology and Planning (1990). The historic environment is a shared resource. This site gives distinctiveness, meaning and quality to Radford Semele, providing a sense of continuity and a source of identity. It is a social and economic asset and a resource for learning and enjoyment. Heritage values represent a public interest in places, regardless of ownership. The use of law, public policy and public investment is justified to protect that fundamental public interest.

2. Historically, all development in this area has been concealed in order for the Council to meet its requirements to protect the setting and countryside seclusion of this listed building. Any development that is not concealed has been refused on these grounds historically and no changes have taken place to justify changing this policy or violating statutory responsibility.

3. 1994 Planning Inspector's Report. No changes to the physical site have occurred which would undermine the detailed consideration given by the Council in their 1993 Local Plan as quoted the 1994 Planning Inspector's Report. The proposed Gladman site retains the same characteristics already firmly rejected by the Council as part of its own detailed planning analysis, including provision of a wholly insufficient village Green/public space. The relevant points from the report are paraphrased below-
"This site and the setting it provides for the northern part of the village are one of the last remaining connections with its rural past."
"The site is not properly part of the village, being wholly peripheral, the housing in Offchurch Lane with which the development would connect being itself a ribbon extending into the countryside."
"[The green space left by developers] would not replace this rural setting provided by this agricultural land and would be surrounded by housing which would extend close to the Church."
"The site would not relate well in scale and location to the village or be well integrated ... If developed, it would, rather, be detached from the village, severed by the main road."
"Any development would close much of the open outlook (of the site) and in so doing affect the impression of the separation of Leamington and Radford Semele."

4. The type, allocation and density of housing required is inappropriate for this setting of a listed building. This site cannot meet the required levels and types of housing required by the New Local Plan if the site is to also conform to planning obligations under statute to protect the setting and seclusion of a listed building.

5. Vehicular Access into the proposed development will require the building of a new access road. The road solution will have to cut directly across the setting of these Grade II Listed buildings. In addition, if chosen as a solution, Church Lane will have to be considerably widened to accommodate cars exiting to/from the development. This will involve the cutting down of ancient trees which presently adorn the lane and the widening will erode permanently the direct setting directly in front of the Church and to the side of the White Lion. The views into the Church from Southam road will be destroyed by a modern wide access road. This runs directly against Council duty to protect the setting of the Church and other listed buildings which demarcate the borders of the Church Fields setting. The alternative proposal, proffered by Gladman, to provide access opposite the White Lion is, worst case, dangerous and best case will result in diminished traffic flow, whilst equally damaging the setting of the key listed building within the Village. Highways have historically, and rightly, rejected any plans for access that require roundabouts or diminution of traffic flows through the Village because of its key role for commuters out of Leamington to the Fosse. The proposed access road suggested by Gladman will fail visibility splay requirements on the blind bend adjacent to Manor House/66/68 Southam Road if the practical reality of cars and lorries travelling at 40mph plus through the blind bend is taken into account in calculations. This exit would be dangerous.

Assuming a housing development of 100 houses, under planning guidelines this requires an allowance for an additional 200+ cars. These vehicles will exit onto the Southam Road/School Lane/Church Lane junction or directly opposite the White Lion. This is an extremely busy stretch of Southam Road nearby to a Primary School. Traffic at this junction is already at pressure. This development will (1) increase the risk of an accident occurring as children and Villagers regularly use this stretch of road to get to/from school and Church and (2) impact negatively on traffic flows for villagers and commuters. The viability of any proposal to ameliorate traffic impact has not been proven as no plans have been submitted by developers. Detailed planning to create a new junction between School Lane, Church Lane and Southam Road has not been provided. Alternative plans by Gladman have not been submitted and have been informally rejected by highways on grounds of safety and traffic flow. Traffic Reports have not been published to analyse the impacts of traffic and junctions to allow the Council to properly make any recommendation. Gladman proposals for 130 dwellings would increase this further.

Any development of Church Lane or access roads across fields adjacent to St Nicholas would damage the listed setting of the Church. Church Lane is intrinsic to the visual and secluded setting of St Nicolas and its development as an access point would undermine Council statutory responsibility to protect the setting of the Church. It currently provides only minor vehicular access to the Church and small residential development and is primarily used for pedestrian access to the Church for school children and the community.

6. The open land extending to the north of Southam Road and Offchurch Lane is only broken by the outlier of development around Radford Hall and the Church. The proposals would close and irreversibly harm this open outlook damaging the wider listed setting of the church including the Water Tower, White Lion Pub, thatched cottages and countryside setting. The damage to heritage and village identity runs against council statutory requirement to protect the setting of listed buildings and ignores the Council statutory obligation to prioritise alternative sites including that Taylor Wimpey site put forward by the Parish Council on the main Southam Road leading from the Village on the Fosse.
7. The proposals would close the last remaining open outlook in the Village, in so doing affecting detrimentally the impression of the separation of Leamington Spa and Radford Semele. This has become an accepted policy guidance criterion in decisions affecting the Local Plan.
8. The Church Fields are fundamental to the identity of who we are as a village. When people think of Radford Semele they think of the Church and its setting in countryside. Planners are required to heed heritage of this importance by statute under listed buildings legislation to ensure its preservation. The status of the Church, and its setting, is the single most important heritage asset in the Village. No possible high density modern development in this site is appropriate or possible in conformity with Council obligations to protect the listed buildings.

9. Any development of the site will increase the drainage issues faced by the village. Poor drainage has led to open sewage being seen in School Lane. This land acts as a natural drainage point for the dwellings on Offchurch Lane, Chance Fields, The Greswolds, Southam Road and School Lane. Housing on this site would interfere with this natural drainage increasing the risk of flooding in the area of the Church and its environs. There are known sewage, drainage and flooding risks within this area. Any further pressure risks pollution of the natural aquifers of the canal and the River Leam.
10. Other potential sites have not been considered sufficiently or have been discounted without comprehensive consideration. The Southam Road Taylor Wimpey sites (East of the Village) are, in light of new and recent studies, viable with simple road adjustments and a reduction to 30mph which should be expected as the new site becomes part of the Village envelope. These sites provide for properly managed expansion of the village in future years whilst protecting the Church and its setting as a balance to that development. Whilst alternative sites are available the Council is under a statutory duty to prioritise their development under the Local Plan.
11. We are being asked to consider this without proper information of how any development will look; what the traffic impact will be - and alternative options to this "preferred" site chosen by the Council.

12. It is accepted in the evidence provided by WDC for the Local Plan that this site provides no option to meet future planning need. The Village will need to expand in years to come. A decision to build on the last open space within the Village, and its historic shared hub, runs counter to the statutory duty of the Council to plan in the long-term interests of the Village. Other sites are available which would allow for Village expansion in future years.

13. It is/has always been critical to strategic planning to protect this open setting as a "planning balance" to development in other parts of the village, both historic and future. If this site is permitted for development, the natural balance relied on in previous developments will have been undone, placing in question those developments.
14. These fields have been enjoyed by the Village since medieval times because of their importance to the Village. The village is mentioned in the Domesday Book. This is a key part of the Council's duty to protect heritage under the listed setting of the Church.
15. Parish Councillors were not consulted about this site. They have democratically put forward an alternative site on the Southam Road which Taylor Wimpey are keen and able to develop. This raises significant issues about the democratic and legal process; the Local Planning process requires proper and sufficient consultation, neither of which have been met.

16. We are being asked to consider this without proper information of how any development will look, what the traffic impact will be and alternative option.

17. No carbon monoxide level studies for adjoining houses between Manor House and Manor Cottage, Holly Cottage and 64 Southam Road have been completed. These houses, because of medieval road layout, create a tunnel effect for traffic fumes and current levels are likely to risk or currently breach government guidelines on safe carbon monoxide pollutant levels. Two cases of cancer have been reported within the last 5 years by residents of these properties. Further increases in carbon monoxide cause by lowering the speed of traffic flow would put lives at risk and further breach guidelines. A study of carbon monoxide impacts would be required as part of any traffic study on this area. Further, increased traffic flow, and vibration pressures causes by diminution of traffic flows, would impact on the seclusion and setting of these listed buildings as well as their foundations/building security.