I am writing to object to the provision in the revised draft of the Local Plan to remove about half of Old Milverton from the Green Belt, and subsequently to allow development of the land along Old Milverton Lane, between the Nuffield Private hospital and the railway bridge in Old Milverton.
These proposals are unsound because they do not comply with national policy with respect to the development of land in the Green Belt. Warwick District Council has failed to demonstrate the "Exceptional Circumstances" required to allow land to be removed from the Green belt. During the revision of the draft Local Plan the land north of Milverton was included for development to help meet the housing needs of Coventry, despite the fact that there is land nearer to Coventry, with a lower "Green Belt Value" than the land in Old Milverton. Use of land in Old Milverton to meet the housing needs of Coventry, rather than land closer to Coventry, will lead to higher commuting costs, associated traffic congestion and pollution. Hardly sustainable development, rather ill conceived, irresponsible and bad planning.
The Green Belt has been very successful in preventing Leamington and Kenilworth merging. The proposed development would reduce this green space to less than 1.5 miles and set a dangerous precedent for further large scale development north of Leamington and so leading eventually to the two towns merging and loss of community identity.
Other reasons for keeping the land in Old Milverton in the Green Belt are the agricultural and amenity values of the land involved. The land is productive arable land, while large numbers of people walk (and run) from north Leamington to Old Milverton across the footpaths from Northumberland Road and the bottom of Guys Cliffe Avenue, both during the week and at weekends, providing considerable health benefits to the participants (and some dogs).
Commuters, often crossing the town and going to and from places of employment south of the town, and the daily school run, are the causes of local traffic congestion and associated pollution. The layout of the town precludes major new road construction to cope with the increasing traffic and it is difficult to see how the proposed Park and Ride scheme in Blackdown can help address this problem. There will be no dedicated buses so potential users will have to fit in with the bus timetables, making the scheme unattractive. The decriminalisation of parking offences and the current parking provisions (space and price) have greatly improved the availability of parking for shoppers in Leamington compared with ten years ago, so shoppers will have no incentive to use the proposed Park and Ride scheme.