Object

Representation ID: 66551

Received: 27/06/2014

Respondent: CPRE WARWICKSHIRE

Legally compliant? No

Sound? No

Duty to co-operate? Not specified

The removal of the land in the vicinity of Coventry airport from the green belt was not included in previous versions of the emerging WDC plan, some of which explicitly argued against such a course of action. There has therefore been no prior (or proper) consultation on this proposed GB change. This makes the proposed policy unsound and unjustified because the consultation process has not allowed effective engagement of interested parties. Lack of adequate consultation renders the plan legally non-compliant.

GB boundaries should only be altered in 'exceptional circumstances'. There is no evidence of exceptional circumstances for the proposed change, making the Plan unsound. WDC proposes that it would review its proposed policy on sub-regional employment site if the SoS rejects the Gateway application. However, if the site has been taken out of the GB meanwhile, this approach would be futile. This could be extremely damaging, leaving the area around Coventry Airport open to piecemeal development and urban sprawl.

Aside from the land at Coventry airport, Removal of land from the Green Belt has not been shown to be justified by 'exceptional circumstances'.
CPRE objects to the removal from the Green Belt of the following locations / sites shown on the proposals map and listed in Policy DS19:
* Red House Farm, Leamington Spa (SE of Cubbington)
* Castle Sixth Form, Rouncil Lane, Kenilworth
* Thickthorn and Southcrest Farm, Kenilworth;
* Land in the vicinity of Coventry Airport (sub-regional employment site)
* University of Warwick; (southern part of area shown)
* Baginton;
* Burton Green;
* Cubbington (H26);
* Hampton Magna (SE of settlement);
* Leek Wootton (whole village proposed for insetting)
* Kingswood (Lapworth).
CPRE also strongly submits that ribbon-development locations which are currently washed-over by Green Belt should not be removed from the Green Belt and 'inset' -Burton Geen and Lapworth. Such areas grew up during the 1920s and 1930s and generally have long gardens and are a single street frontage. If removed from the Green Belt, they would be subject to applications for redevelopment at greater density and the conversion.