GT19 Land off Birmingham Road, Budbrooke, Oaklands Farm

I would like you to record my strongest objection to the proposed location of a gypsy traveller site at the Birmingham Road location (property of Councillor Robert Butler next to the Shell Garage)

This is green belt land and should be preserved as such, the access and exit is on to a major road and would increase traffic hazards, it is very close to a heavily populated urban area, adjacent to a main road and highly visible, and a site of this nature would not be in keeping with the locality and would also attract attention from passing motorists thus again causing traffic problems. Local schools are already over subscribed.
The location at kites nest lane has already been declined and the objections must surely be the same and more, when considering the birmingham road site is much closer to the urban housing area. The kites nest lane site is much more secluded and does not impact on nearly so many people. It seems ludicrous to consider a move to birmingham road from kites nest lane.

I am also concerned that the is no local consultation meeting at Hatton Park whose residents would be adversely affected by this site if it were accepted. I would be grateful if you could include at meeting at Hatton Park in your consultation process. I am happy to attend other areas meetings but feel that they would be more concerned with proposals affecting them locally and any issue affecting residents in Hatton Park would be lost. I would be grateful if this could receive urgent attention in order that our local residents are able to be fully informed and meet the deadline to make their feelings known.

I would like to object for the following reasons explained in attached file
1. Traffic congestion when combined combined with the proposed housing developments.
2. Site safety. This is surely not the best place for children new to the area to play given the proximity to a busy road and a canal?
3. Given that this is one of the primary roads into Warwick which tourist's use is the site the best image for people to see on the entry into town?
4. Local amenities in Hatton Park are very poor and you going to introduce further strains on already overstretched resources.

Gypsy Sites

I have just noticed that around Hampton Magna there are more potential sites than anywhere else. I firmly object to land being purchased at Oaklands Farm Budbrooke as this site is on a very busy commuter main road. Entrance off the local road would be impossible as the canal bridge suffers from subsidence and totally unsuitable for heavy vehicles and is very narrow for caravans.

The Birmingham Road is a busy road where access and egress to the site is likely to be difficult and dangerous.

This is a rather prominent site on the Birmingham Road between Warwick and Hatton. Any gypsy site would be very visible and harmful by damaging the gap between Warwick and Hatton Park. The land is Green Belt.

Site is too dangerously close to busy main road and canal adjacent, concerns what impact this will have on those using the canal and paths.

This site is in the green belt where there is a strong presumtion against development. This does not seem to be a suitable development for green belt.
The site has a poor bus service and poor links to local health services and schools.
This area is on a busy two-way road that has been the subject of many accidents making access to the site difficult.

The site is not close to GP surgeries or schools It is in a very visible area beside the Birmingham Road, which would be difficult to screen leaving a poor visual appearance, and destroying the character of the area. Access and egress to the busy road would be difficult and dangerous from the site, particularly for lorries and caravans.

I object to GT19 development for the following reasons;

1, lack of local amenities/infrastructure, the local schools are already over subscribed.
2, It is in conflict with the character of the area, it is inappropriate development in green belt.
3, The local road network is already under strain, this will only increase that.
4, Noise pollution and disturbance.
5, Harm to landscape of the hatton locks.
6, It is not possible to integrate it into the landscape without harming the character of the area.

Regards

I object to this site for the following reasons.

- Road safety issue. Vehicles turning in and out of any entrance could cause accidents.

- Visual impact. Harmful to rural area and communities, including Hatton Locks. Conflicts with character of area. It would not be possible to integrate any site into this rural area.

- Increased traffic to an already congested Birmingham Rd at peak times.

- Lack of facilities for travellers. Schools are already over subscribed.

- Would be an appaling distruction of greenbelt.

- Noise and disruption to very close communities.

- Overpopulation and density of rural area.

The proposal is unsafe; the A4177 Birmingham Road is a very busy commuter route and there have been a number of serious accidents near this location over the years. It is not suitable for an increase in turning traffic in and out of the location.

The location is next to a very busy petrol station and is a busy junction. It is already difficult to turn into and out of Ugly Bridge Road because of volume of traffic.

This proposal would adversely affect the character of the area. It is a quiet rural environment

This site has access onto a very busy main road with limited pedestrian access. Local schools are already under pressure following the development of the Hatton hospital site which will be adjacent to the proposed location.

Objecting to the proposed inclusion of the site GT19 - Land adjacent Shell Petrol Filling Station, Birmingham Road, Budbrooke, Warwick, this is a person's HOME & BUSINESS location.

It would be great to be able to offer sessional youth work support to the young people on the sites. The Warwickshire Association of Youth Clubs would be interested in offering such support if funded by say the Community Levy

It is a fact that there are plenty of Caravan and camping sites in Warwickshire already authorised to take Touring and Static vans (Stratford upon Avon and Warwick Racecourse being just two of several in Warwickshire). If people want to stay in Warwickshire for 1 nights or even several months (or on a residential basis) there are established Caravan and Camping sites (with all of the facilities named on your document e..g toilets, showers, car parking etc) that are already set up for exactly that purpose. There are already laws in place to prevent owners of these sites turning people away on grounds of ethnicity if that was a reason for thinking these sites were not suitable. There are also many more pitches than the 30+ you are seeking to accommodate.

With regards to the two sites referred to in your document.

The current site on Kites Nest Lane is in breach of planning law and was occupied in very bad faith (Bank Holiday weekend when the planning office was shut etc). To even suggest legalising it by including it in the consultation document sends a terrible message to the residents of that site and anyone else thinking that way to get their own way is to do something illegal and then resist the law until such time as the law changes to suit them.

Similarly, the site near the Shell Garage in Hatton has been breaching the law for years with Caravans being occupied on that site in spite of it not being a licensed camping ground. To legalise this send a similarly bad message.

I am very disappointed in your approach which in my opinion gives support to those carrying out illegal activities.

We are residents of Chase Meadow Estate and would hereby like to formally raise our objections to the four proposed gypsey/traveller sites being possibly situated near this estate.

I would like to make my comments on the sites for gypsies and travellers.

I have looked at the proposed sites, and I would like to suggest that they use sites that are away from main roads where the ugly sites will be visible to the community. As the people who actually pay taxes to keep our council running (unlike the gypsies who expect us to provide for them), I doubt that there is anyone who wants to see the gypsy and traveller sites that we are funding, day in and day out, reminding us.

We live in Hatton Park, and I am horrified to see the land on the Birmingham Road listed as one of the sites. I think this is completely unsuitable, and will ruin this neighbourhood. I feel that a site like the ones on the A46 are much more suitable as they are not in full view of the local population all the time. Gypsy and traveller sites are known to be ugly and to spoil the view of the country side. One of the reasons we moved to Hatton Park is because it is surrounded by the natural beauty of the countryside, and that is why we paid a premium for that. It is totally unfair to then stick a caravan site on the main road for all to see.

So my main comment is, please choose sites that are hidden from public view - this is not something that the people of this area want - it is being forced on us, so the least you could do is consider us in your choices and choose somewhere out of sight.

I am Mr R Telford of 329 Birmingham Road, Budbrooke, Warwick. My house is immediately adjacent to Oaklands Farm Kennels and is bounded on two sides by the field owned by Mr Butler of Oaklands Farm. At the nearest point his buildings and infrastructure are only (approx) 75 yards from my property.

As you will readily appreciate, being in such proximity to Oaklands Farm the prospect of it becoming a permanent Gypsy site, given the propensity of the Gypsy folk for spreading out beyond the bounds of any original agreement - in this case most probably into the field around my home, causes me some considerable concern.

It would be disingenuous of me to pretend that my anxieties are not fuelled, in large part, by the prospect of such a site negatively impacting on the value of my home, a value incidentally which is critical for my pension and retirement provision, but, whilst this is a major factor for me, I am realistic enough to know that the planners will not be concerned about this!

However, there are other good reasons why Oaklands Farm should not be viewed as a potential site.

1. Chief among these is the issue of access from the Birmingham Road (A4177) The stretch from my house to the Shell Garage just past Oaklands Farm is a notoriously difficult and dangerous stretch of road to pull off and pull onto. Despite the 40mph limit it is not at all unusual for vehicles to be driven along it at speeds considerably in excess of 40mph. The road bends significantly from my house to the garage making visibility for people joining the road from the houses or from Oaklands very much a matter of just waiting for an apparent gap in the traffic and then 'taking your life in your hands' and going for it!

That this is not an exageration can be easily verified - an observer only needs to station him or herself on my drive or on the roadside by Oaklands Farm for 30 minutes at pretty well any time of day to see that it is so.

Several times over the years Mr Butler has been refused permission for various schemes for exactly that reason. Any suggestion that the establishment of a a permanent Gypsy site would not increase the risk to road users and site dwellers would be naive.

2. The A4177 is one of the major access roads for the town of Warwick. I doubt that the establishment of any permanent Gypsy site in the whole country has had the effect of 'beautifying' the locale in which it is placed and I think it very unlikely that the placement of such a site on Oaklands Farm will present an attractive view to visitors as they approach our town. I'm not sure that driving past such a site will project the positive image which traders, business persons and, presumably the council would like to project.

3. The policy criteria for selecting sites requires that consideration be given to any "adverse impact on important features of the natural and historic environment" I would have thought that the Grand Union Canal stretch incorporating the recently upgraded towpath and the famous Hatton Flight of locks would be an "important feature of the natural environment" The canal is popular with walkers, family groups, canal cruisers and anglers. Visitors come from far afield to view the famous flight of locks. There is direct access onto the canal bank in at least two places from Oaklands Farm. There will almost certainly, given the travellers 'track record' in other places, be some 'leakage' of their property, their noise and their waste onto the canal bank or close enough to it to render the towpath less attractive. Not to mention the anxiety caused to walkers by the proximity of several noisy dogs which are bound to be present on the site.

I hope that my views will be noted. I will be attending the various meetings and exhibitions scheduled at Bishops Tachbrook, Hatton Village Hall and the Hampton Magma Community Centre where I will be happy to explain my thoughts firmly and courteously face to face with a councillor if given the opportunity to do so.

I do, despite my anxieties in this instance, have more than a little sympathy for those who are charged with providing a suitable facility and who, on the one hand have a legal responsibility to discharge and on the other a concerned populace to convince, find themselves between the proverbial 'rock and a hard place' However, such an unenviable position rather goes with the territitory I guess!

I have had some feedback with regards to the meeting last night and I cannot oppose strongly enough with regards to the proposal to develop a traveller site on the land currently owned by Mr Butler next to the Shell garage on the Birmingham Rd hatton. It is in my view wholly unsuitable. First to consider it atheistically and alos in view of the desirability of the area where people have invested years their hard earned money into property and when driving past the whole estate. Seeing it so visibly in the public domain the traveller site whether right or wrong in terms of your values, does put some people off purchasing houses in the area and is known to appear on land searches and devalue property as demand reduces.

But more importantly it is so dangerous. Both access points to that land are extremely congested in rush hour and despite some attempts to traffic calm, vehicles do travel at very fast speeds along that stretch of road. Large vehicles , cars and caravans are extremely inappropriate on that position in addition to the existing side road and Garage that already causes problems without the traveller site in existence. I would urge the council to look very carefully at that area in rush hour traffic to see the reality of that already dangerous hot spot, where incidentally I have already seen 3 vehicle accidents.

It is an extremely busy road to cross if there are a lot of families and the children in particular would to want visit the shell garage for groceries, or more likely cross the highly dangerous road to play in the recreational walkway directly opposite that leads to the parkland at the top of the walkway. It is a matter of time before someone especially young people are seriously injured or killed. Please request that your council employees come and stand on that part of the road at any time and see how fast the cars travel down and the volume of traffic when trying to cross that road, which would be an inevitability take place for all the permanent traveller residents with so much on offer on the door step ( the walkway, garage, canal, village shop, several parklands)

I think kites lane is bad enough but this site is even worse again in view of the real dangers around that maybe you could only appreciate if you lived in the community. I walk my dogs routinely down the walk way so looking at the position it does seem with respect very poorly thought through that the council are actually considering it as professionals when assessing all suitability factors of a permanent site.

I trust you do not see my views as discriminatory but honest and valid and I would appreciate you passing my absolute opposition and that of my family residing on Hatton park estate to the relevant person(s) that is collating the consultation material.

I wish to record an objection to the proposed traveller site at Oaklands Farm, Birmingham Road.

1. The visual impact of this site on one of the main arterial roads into Warwick, would be detrimental to the image of Warwick portrayed to tourists visiting the area.

2. This proposed site will cause road safety issues due to the an increase in traffic towing trailers and caravans to and from the proposed site at Oaklands Farm on to the Birmingham Road. The daily activity of the site occupants seeking work using plant machinery stored on the site must also be considered.

3. The Hatton Stairway of Locks is one of the major pieces of Canal engineering that runs along the back of the proposed site .This is a tourist attraction for walkers and Narrow boat tourists visiting the area and using the Warwickshire loop Canal system. Again this would have a detrimental visual impact on the image of Warwick.

4. Oaklands Farm once had a Caravan storage area . Enforcement action was taken by the Council against the owner of the property expressing similar concerns.This was done at a considerable cost to the Tax payer and the storage facility was not permitted. I believe that as the population of Warwick has grown and the traffic flow has increased, the original grounds for the enforcement action are still if not more relevant due to the location of this proposed site at this time.

5. I understand that the council were offered land by the construction company where the site offices were situated for the recent A46 development at no charge.This land had all utility services and was a more suitable site that would cause minimum expense to the public purse.As i understand it this offer was declined.Why?

I understand the need for sites ,but the proposed site at Oaklands farm has not been a well thought through option.

I am writing to object to your proposed plan to change the use of Oaklands Farm to a Permanent Gypsy Site.
My objections are as follows:

1. Oaklands Farm is sited opposite a large residential estate, Hatton Park. Regardless to Warwick District Council statement in their "Frequently asked Questions and Answers". The value of property will reduce when in close proximity to a Gypsy Site, permanent or otherwise. Current information suggests this can be as much as 40%.

2. To my knowledge, the current owner of Oaklands Farm, Mr Robert Butler, has previously, on a number of occasions applied for permission to redevelop his land for various business ventures, and he has applied for planning permission to build a small number of residential properties. On each occasion one of the major factors for the refusal by the Council has been poor access to Oaklands Farm site, from the busy Birmingham Road. I am interested to see how this access problem will be overcome to allow up to 15 permanent Gypsy caravans.

3. Birmingham Road (A4177) is the main road between Warwick and the second city - Birmingham. As previously stated it is a very busy road which in addition to local commuting traffic, also handles a large number of visitors to Warwick.
Does Warwick District Council really think that a large permanent Gypsy site with old vehicles and piles of scrap metal, a fitting advert for visitors to this historic town.

The proposal to generate 31 permanent Gypsy sites around Warwick, will solve the other local problem, the need to build 12,300 new properties. If these Gypsy sites go ahead then there will be no need for new housing, because who in their right mind would want to live in Warwick......Brilliant!!!.

Hi, I wish to object to the idea of a travellers site next to the Shell petrol filling station on Birmingham road. This site is completely unsuitable due to being 100 meters away from a very large housing development (Hatton park). We have already suffered for years, as the travellers at Kites nest lane have caused crime (and my car/house insurance premiums) to surge. The residents of Hatton park will not stand for this and WILL take a strong stance against the travellers should they arrive in our village.

I would like to take this opportunity to register my strong opposition to the traveller sites that have been proposed in south west Warwickshire.

I have been a resident of Warwickshire for the past 12 years, residing in Leamington, Kenilworth and now Warwick.

I believe that the Warwick District Council have agreed to a meeting and I think this is critical in order to share information, views and concerns both ways between the residents of Chase Meadow and the council.

The basis for my objection is based on the factors which I will outline below.

- School Places;
It is my understanding that the children from traveller communities will be given a higher priority with regards to the allocation of school places and this is a concern that the schools in the proposed areas would be unable to cope with any potential increase.
This is two-fold. Firstly, with the projected school intakes for 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 based on the birth rates in the area and secondly, taking into account the large extensions to family estates such as Chase Meadow where it is not possible to estimate the additional places required.

- GP Access;
Living on Chase Meadow, I know how difficult and stretched the GP Surgery (The New Dispensary) is and my concern is that this surgery can not cope with the number of additional patients that the proposed sites may house.

- Infrastructure;
Chase Meadow is largely unadopted by the council and it already suffers with issues surrounding speeding on the estate and leading to and from the estate. One of the proposed sites (plot 11) is located on the border between a 30mph and 60mph limits. My concern is the additional traffic flowing through the chase meadow estate and the need to police the speed limits on the unadopted roads.
Hampton Road is a fast road and the concern of an additional turning so close to an existing turning on this type of road is a risk to the residents safety.

- Aesthetics of the Warwickshire countryside.
Warwick is such a beautiful and historic town for which tourists travel to visit annually. Having seen a number of traveller sites over recent years and months, the risk to the tourism economy for Warwick has to be taken seriously.
The proposed Hampton Road and Junc 15 sites are key routes into Warwick and should be preserved.
Also, the Hampton Road site is located next to the Flat Straight for Warwick Race Course and will be visible to those attending the races.


I would like to thank you for taking to the time to read and file my objection to these proposed traveller sites and look forward to the opportunity to meet with you at the forthcoming meeting

I wish to register our objections to the proposed traveller sites in South Warwickshire

I am writing to object to consideration for planning permission to be granted to develop a traveller site at Oaklands, Birmingham Road, Warwick.
I object for the following reasons.
1. Any further development to the small local community already located at the Birmingham Road will spoil their quality of life. You only have to visit Warwick museum to see that this small group of houses has its own identity and has been present as long as the canal and railway.
2. Traffic on the A4177 is already very high. Introducing households with personal and commercial vehicles will create even more stress on a road that is the busiest A Road into the town.
3. The area is not suitable for development due to the negative affect it will have on tourism, and that the area is increasing its tourist footfall. It is an important addition to the town after the castle.
4. The provision of local services will be made worse by any increase in development. The local surgery, and dentists, plus the two schools are already at capacity, any increase will negatively affect current users.
I and my family strongly object to the provision of housing or traveller pitches in the vicinity of the Birmingham Road, Warwick.

I would like you to register my strong objection to the 4 proposed Gypsy and Travellers sites in close proximity to the Chase Meadow Residential Area.

I wish to register our objection to the councils plans for the travelers sites in and around Chase Meadow in Warwick.

I would like you to register my strong objection to the 4 proposed Gypsy and Travellers sites in close proximity to the Chase Meadow Residential Area.

I have lived on Chase Meadow for 5 years now and have just heard about the proposed travellers sites which i feel is dispicable. I work extremely hard as does my wife and we are looking to move into a larger house on the estate however this may change that as we don't need this type of site next to our community.
When travellers have come to Warwick in the past it has brought nothing but trouble, loss of earnings to local business as they have had to close and huge clean up costs. This is what we want to embrace, I really don't think so.
I hope the MP's and Council can find some sort of sensible solution that means these sites are well away form our communities.

I have read the proposed plans for gypsy travellers sites on Kites Nest Lane GT13 and for GT19 opposite the Shell Garage.
We strongly object to both proposed sites.
The Kites Nest Lane destruction of Green Belt Land has gone on beyond belief , flouting planning laws, ignoring the law and destroying Green belt land. It is entirely the worst location with little access, surrounded by Green Belt .

The G19 site would destroy more countryside, with already appalling and dangerous road conditions on the main road bordering it would destroy the land and become an eyesore and wholly inappropriate introduction to encouraging visitors and tourists to Warwick.

I wish to strongly object to both sites.