Local Plan Consultation on Village Housing Options and Settlement Boundaries Consultation - Kingswood

I refer to the Local Plan Consultation on Village Housing Options and Settlement Boundaries Consultation, in particular relating to Kingswood and wish to object to the sites 1, 2 and 6 identified in the above consultation. The previous consultation focused on Lapworth as a primary service village and indeed many meetings were held with residents from Lapworth, but no such opportunity was granted to the residents of Rowington as no development was envisaged due to Rowington being classed in the small village/hamlet category.

I wish to object as a resident of Rowington parish, to where it was indicated that your Council are looking for land from green belt within Lapworth (Kingswood) and that there would be very limited, if any, development in Rowington. This was a misleading consultation.

You are now looking at identifying sites within Rowington, without any proper consultation taking place with the residents of Rowington and who no doubt are of the opinion that there will be no development.

It is noted that some of the sites in Kingswood have been discounted due to flooding issues. I understand from the Environment Agency that they have not been consulted over any proposals for development at the Kingswood sites.
They advise that given that the area experiences flooding, and the sites are to be included as part of the Local Plan, they would request that a flood model is undertaken as part of that process to inform those involved in the decision making process.

Some of the Kingswood sites referred to in the Consultation, have been discounted due to flooding, but others included as preferred options, notwithstanding flooding being experienced. How has this judgement been made if the Environment Agency have not been consulted?

The Consultation Document is incorrect. It states that option sites have been discussed with Rowington residents. What was the basis of discussion of proposed option sites. It was not with the Parish Council and there was no notice of any public meetings. Please clarify.
Lapworth and Rowington are completely separate villages in their own right. Local people do not make particular reference to living in Kingswood, they live in either Lapworth or Rowington and are proud to do so.

Preferred option sites 1 and 6 suffer from and have the potential to suffer from flooding, a point of concern raised previously by the Environment Agency when an application for development in the area of site 1 was submitted in the past. There is a proposal in preferred option site 1 to erect a gabion wall if development takes place. This is an acknowledgement of flooding potential and by erecting such a gabion wall where will any flood waters go, or is this not a matter of concern for the Council.

The sites identified at Kingswood are bounded by either Kingswood Brook and or canals, and local residents have had many years' experience of flooding where the Kingswood Brook passes under the Old Warwick Road by a restricted culvert and similarly by a restricted culvert under the feeder canal between the Grand Union Canal and the Stratford Canal. This has led to the flooding of local houses, shops and a garage and at times, leaving the Old Warwick Road impassable.

Further development can only aggravate the situation and from contact which has been made with the Environment Agency, it has not been consulted on the specific plans for these sites under the Draft Local Plan. Since this is the statutory body with the expertise into flooding at the present time, I find it alarming that your Council has not been in touch with them to determine that these sites are suitable before arriving at decisions with regard to preferred options. Good governance would say this is wrong.

The grouping of sites 1, 2 and 6 is far too over intensive having regard to the limited size of the local settlements. The locations are all backfill sites not infill sites which is generally regarded as an inappropriate means of justifying development taking place.

If any development is required, then surely this should be restricted to infill and spread throughout the settlement to avoid overcrowding and other problems associated with services and infrastructure for the area.

The Old Warwick Road is now a busy thoroughfare and access to the proposed sites in on a bend at the foot of a hill, and adjoining a busy garage which itself generates of lot of parked vehicles. The speed of traffic is often far in excess of the 30mph speed limit and with such potentially large developments creating in effect, a cross roads, this will be a traffic hazard. Have the police been consulted for their views?

The sites all have canal boundaries and which Kingswood Brook runs under. Have the Canal & Waterways Trust been consulted prior to a decision being taken over the preferred options? If not, why not?

There is poor public transport serving the area and emergency vehicles have at least a 10/15 minute journey before they can arrive in the vicinity. Have the Police and Fire Service been consulted?

The former Kingswood Nursery site is not only within green belt at present, it is also a Special Landscape Area which your Council determined and which it should be seeking to conserve and protect. Over development will have a detrimental impact on the rural landscape.

The character of the surrounding area, the local street scene including listed buildings, watercourses, would make any development detrimental to the amenities of the adjoining residents as well as detrimental to the character of the area.

There is an abundance of wildlife in the area and I question whether or not the Council has undertaken a survey to establish whether there are protected species on the sites in question, in particular, bats and slow worms etc all of which have been seen locally.

In the initial consultation undertaken by your Council, 57 respondents were against
Development and only 5 in favour. Those in favour being either developers or landowners wanting to develop their land.

Your Council is being challenged by a number of parish councils with the support of many other parish and town councils. Should you not defer any decisions until the outcome of this challenge is known. If your Council is wrong, then it has unnecessarily incurred a great deal of expenditure in a flawed consultation process.

Why for the sake of a few months, until a decision is made about the validity of your housing needs figures has been determined, should you be continuing with this exercise.

If you determine sites now and it is found they are unnecessary then surely, you will set yourself up to challenges by developers and landowners.