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

We believe the following are important considerations that need to be taken into account when determining the Local Plan for Burton Green.

* The existing nature of the village needs to be maintained at all costs i.e. open aspect, rural views, low density housing.
* Burton Green should remain a village with an independent identity and that Coventry or Solihull developments do not spread into the Parish boundary i.e the 'Crackley Gap' is maintained.
* That the village is enhanced by any future development and that development should add to the long term sustainability of the community; such as a new improved village hall, homes for young families and those looking to down size but remain in Burton Green, improved parking at the school and creating recreational and open spaces.
* That the impact of the Local Plan, HS2 developments and local needs are considered holistically not separately.

We agree that Greenbelt needs to be maintained as much as possible to retain the rural and open aspect of the village. The proposed boundaries look about right, provided it does not allow back garden developments that would be out of character to the rest of the village.

Any new development should be low density and include a mixture of housing to encourage young families to the village and bungalows for elderly residents to down size to.

We believe the preferred site (Burrow Hill Nurseries) is the most suitable location for new development providing it contains a new improved village hall linking it with the school and recreational space - irrespective of HS2 the current hall is running out of capacity and does not have sufficient open space or parking. Also the development should have rural building density not urban levels as presently proposed. 75 houses is too high for the site to retain the rural nature of Burton Green. Also the development should be used as an opportunity to provide an improvement to the pavements in Red Lane which are too narrow and in a poor state of repair, hindering access for Red Lane residents to the centre of the village and school.

In order to spread housing development across the village we believe site 2 (behind the Peeping Tom) would be suitable for a small additional development, we do not however, believe this site is suitable for the village hall as it would move the centre of the village too far towards Coventry and alienate further residents in Hob Lane and Red Lane and potentially set the village on a pathway to joining with Coventry. We would like to see any development creating a new centrally located heart of the village that will make a more cohesive and inclusive environment for all to share including green/play space with links to the school and potential new village hall.

We are aware of a proposal by local land owners for site 7 as presented at the Parish Council meeting 20th January. We believe this to be a wholly unsuitable site. Apart from it being out of character to the village, residents on Hodgetts Lane would be effectively surrounded by HS2 construction to the front of their properties and this construction to the rear, what a miserable position to be in! It also has only a single access point close to the existing junction with Hodgetts Lane, creating difficulties for emergency services and additional congestion around the two junctions.

We do not believe sites 5 & 6 are suitable as they would start to close the 'Crackley Gap'.

We do not believe sites 3 or 4 are suitable as they would be out of character with Red Lane and would be a hazard on the already narrow stretches of Red lane.

Land that will be sterilised until after HS2 construction, e.g the existing village hall site and land above the green tunnel, should be earmarked for new village facilities such as wildlife area, skate park, exercise area etc.

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on these proposals.