Woodside Farm (South of Whitnash)

Traffic in Whitnash area is already congested and becoming dangerous especially at peak times and school pick up times. Roads are becoming increasingly blocked at these times. Already this year a number of accidents have occured at the junction of Tachbrook Road/Ashford Road causing traffic hold ups and the police have been called each time. Luckily so far, no-one has been seriously injured or killed. The only answer not have more traffic or accidents in the surrounding area is not to build on the Woodside Farm area.
A roundabout would not succeed as people tend to jump their turn getting impatient. I think this would cause more accidents. Traffic lights are not an option because of the close location of the pelican crossing to this junction. It is getting increasingly difficult ot turn right onto Tachbrook Road from Ashford Road.

Elevation of the land, if developed, at the highest point of Woodside Farm will cause a 'blot on the landscape' visible to all entering Whitnash.
Access to Woodside Farm could mean removal of woodland and road widening on an already busy road network at Tachbrook Road/Harbury Lane junction.
The steep incline of the land at Woodside Farm, if developed, would mean flooding of Tachbrook Road/Harbury Lane, areas that already flood despite being a modern junction.
The land at Woodside Farm has underground power cables making this area unsuitable for development.
A Government Inspector found in favour of no development of Woodside Farm in the Regional Spatial Strategy programme. The arguments are the same against development so what has changed and above all why is it in phase 1?
What will happen with Schools? Local schools have already been over extended. When Warwick Gates was built it was to include a school. Existing schools cannot be safely extended further and what will happen about catchment areas for local children?
Traffic in Whitnash area is already congested and becoming dangerous especially at peak times and school pick up times. Roads are becoming increasingly blocked at these times.
When Warwick Gates was built Whitnash should have had local police, additional schools and access for fire. Police have just been moved north of the river forced by police cuts. Now we are told that if the development happens, they may come back.
Access to hospitals, police, fire etc which are all north of the river, are only accessible by 5 extremely busy bridges. When Warwick town centre was closed and Fords factory site was being developed the area was chaos highlighting what additional traffic would do to these already congested bottlenecks.
In respect of empty houses and commercial premises, it is not known if these are taken into account in the numbers of future housing and factory developments being planned.
There are virtually no green spaces left around Whitnash. The playing field at Harbury Lane is a white elephant provided to placate residents when Warwick Gates was built. It is little used for sport/recreation, boarded up due to vandalism and a hazard with dog waste etc.
The Government recommends no urban sprawl, well what is happening at Woodside Farm is exactly that.
If any development has to happen at Woodside Farm then it should be a drastically reduced number of houses at low level around the boundary of Tachbrook Road and Harbury Lane. The land at high level should be left as green space for local residents and thus not cause an unsightly entry into Whitnash.

Elevation of the land, if developed, at the highest point of Woodside Farm will cause a 'blot on the landscape' visible to all entering Whitnash.
Access to Woodside Farm could mean removal of woodland and road widening on an already busy road network at Tachbrook Road/Harbury Lane junction.
The steep incline of the land at Woodside Farm, if developed, would mean flooding of Tachbrook Road/Harbury Lane, areas that already flood despite being a modern junction.
The land at Woodside Farm has underground power cables making this area unsuitable for development.
A Government Inspector found in favour of no development of Woodside Farm in the Regional Spatial Strategy programme. The arguments are the same against development so what has changed and above all why is it in phase 1?
What will happen with Schools? Local schools have already been over extended. When Warwick Gates was built it was to include a school. Existing schools cannot be safely extended further and what will happen about catchment areas for local children?
Traffic in Whitnash area is already congested and becoming dangerous especially at peak times and school pick up times. Roads are becoming increasingly blocked at these times.
When Warwick Gates was built Whitnash should have had local police, additional schools and access for fire. Police have just been moved north of the river forced by police cuts. Now we are told that if the development happens, they may come back.
Access to hospitals, police, fire etc which are all north of the river, are only accessible by 5 extremely busy bridges. When Warwick town centre was closed and Fords factory site was being developed the area was chaos highlighting what additional traffic would do to these already congested bottlenecks.
In respect of empty houses and commercial premises, it is not known if these are taken into account in the numbers of future housing and factory developments being planned.
There are virtually no green spaces left around Whitnash. The playing field at Harbury Lane is a white elephant provided to placate residents when Warwick Gates was built. It is little used for sport/recreation, boarded up due to vandalism and a hazard with dog waste etc.
The Government recommends no urban sprawl, well what is happening at Woodside Farm is exactly that.
If any development has to happen at Woodside Farm then it should be a drastically reduced number of houses at low level around the boundary of Tachbrook Road and Harbury Lane. The land at high level should be left as green space for local residents and thus not cause an unsightly entry into Whitnash.

Elevation of the land, if developed, at the highest point of Woodside Farm will cause a 'blot on the landscape' visible to all entering Whitnash.
Access to Woodside Farm could mean removal of woodland and road widening on an already busy road network at Tachbrook Road/Harbury Lane junction.
The steep incline of the land at Woodside Farm, if developed, would mean flooding of Tachbrook Road/Harbury Lane, areas that already flood despite being a modern junction.
The land at Woodside Farm has underground power cables making this area unsuitable for development.
A Government Inspector found in favour of no development of Woodside Farm in the Regional Spatial Strategy programme. The arguments are the same against development so what has changed and above all why is it in phase 1?
What will happen with Schools? Local schools have already been over extended. When Warwick Gates was built it was to include a school. Existing schools cannot be safely extended further and what will happen about catchment areas for local children?
Traffic in Whitnash area is already congested and becoming dangerous especially at peak times and school pick up times. Roads are becoming increasingly blocked at these times.
When Warwick Gates was built Whitnash should have had local police, additional schools and access for fire. Police have just been moved north of the river forced by police cuts. Now we are told that if the development happens, they may come back.
Access to hospitals, police, fire etc which are all north of the river, are only accessible by 5 extremely busy bridges. When Warwick town centre was closed and Fords factory site was being developed the area was chaos highlighting what additional traffic would do to these already congested bottlenecks.
In respect of empty houses and commercial premises, it is not known if these are taken into account in the numbers of future housing and factory developments being planned.
There are virtually no green spaces left around Whitnash. The playing field at Harbury Lane is a white elephant provided to placate residents when Warwick Gates was built. It is little used for sport/recreation, boarded up due to vandalism and a hazard with dog waste etc.
The Government recommends no urban sprawl, well what is happening at Woodside Farm is exactly that.
If any development has to happen at Woodside Farm then it should be a drastically reduced number of houses at low level around the boundary of Tachbrook Road and Harbury Lane. The land at high level should be left as green space for local residents and thus not cause an unsightly entry into Whitnash.

See attached

New Local Plan

Please accept this letter as my formal objection to the "New Local Plan" document dated May 2012.

The specific areas I object to are, the housing proposals on:

1) Land at Europa Way and Gallows Hill (1600homes)

And also:

2) Land South of Sydenham and east of Whitnash
3) Land at Woodside Farm, north of Harbury Lane, Whitnash
4) Land west of Europa Way, Warwick

My objections are based on the following:

* On the Understanding that we need further housing I can appreciate that the land on Europa Way and Gallows Hill (Myton Side) and the end of Harbury Lane could be used this would create basically another Warwick Gates Causing some serious infrastructure problems i.e. Roads Schools etc but to then add a further 1600 homes into the mix is totally unacceptable. This would lead to such infrastructure problems that people would start to leave the area as they could not stand the hassles which is the complete opposite of what is trying to be achieved (in creating a nice environment to live in)

* An additional 3000 houses on the south side of the town creates an imbalance to the area as it would mean that with Warwick Gates and the proposed additions there would be around 4400 houses in that area with only 2 roads to get in to town? Taking an average of 2 cars per family that would me there would be an additional 6000 cars to add to the 2800 already in Warwick Gates. This is an wholly unacceptable and unfeasible suggestion and myself would look at moving it already takes me 25 minutes some days to get from my house to the Coventry road in Warwick.
* Large estates lack social cohesion which leads to anti social behaviour and poor education performance. This proposal is the same size as Warwick Gates, Chase Meadow and Hatton Park all put together; what kind of community is likely to be born as a result of this development? Especially as 40% will be social / council housing in an area with poor transport links to the areas that give the most support to the under privileged i.e. the town centres.

* We think that such a number of new homes contradicts the vision that Warwick District Council has, "providing a mix of historic towns and villages set within a rural landscape of open farmland and parklands".

* Utilities, Services (Police, Dentists, and Doctors etc.) are all stretched to the limit now. With both the major hospitals only accessible across congested bridges over the river Avon, we fear for how long it will take emergency cases to get the medical resource they need. Siting the vast majority of the Housing still fits this problem and increases it.

* The huge increase in traffic arising from at least 8000 new cars in this area will result in pollution and add to existing air quality problems in Warwick and Leamington town centres. At peak times the traffic along Europa Way (even as far as the J14 M40), Gallows Hill, Tachbrook Road and Tachbrook Park Drive are grid locked, your proposed development is situated right along these roads, simply adding to the congestion already experienced. So far you have failed to fix the current problems and there is no evidence on your part to suggest that you will, even for when this proposed development is complete.

* We see no sense in carpeting our green spaces with housing for a mobile population to travel elsewhere. Our remaining agricultural land should be preserved to feed future generations.

Why did you decide not to create a brand new settlement within the district (like Norton Lindsey) maybe below the A46/J15 inter-change where direct links to the road network are very easily accessible? A new town there would have fantastic access to Dual carriage ways and the Motorway network a new schools could be planned including Secondary Education as most schools are full already

I do believe that some housing maybe needed for organic growth within individual communities; however, I feel this should be decided at a local level with the support of the local people not imposed from the Government in a top-down approach as it is at the moment and certainly not to the numbers you are suggesting.

We urge you to rethink the development placements radically; to look again at regeneration possibilities in the towns, to work with owners and developers on imaginative schemes to bring forward brown field sites and possibly a new village/town in a rural position for housing developments.