Leek Wootton

Leek Wootton is being asked to increase its size by almost 25% which will change the village completely, and the percentage is greater than any of the other settlements under review, with the exception of Burton Green which exceeds only because it is accommodating replacement housing due to the construction of HS2. This is totally disproportionate and grossly unfair to the current homeowners in Leek Wootton.

I object to the proposed increse in dwellings by 23% which will have a majort impact on the whole village and is significantly higher than all other villages included in the proposals. The school will be unable to accommodate increased numbers on this scale as local children already have to go to appeal in some year groups to gain a place. Probably three extra classrooms plus a new assembly hall would be required. Because of the school's position on the southern boundary of the village there is already considerable pressure and danger with the amount of movement by vehicles and pedestrians along the Warwick Road.
The junction with Warwick Road and Woodcote Lane is dangerous because of limited visibility from Woodcote Lane and this is where most of the extra traffic will be generated.

As residents of Leek Wootton (Tremayne, Hill Wootton Road) we make the following comments related to the new local plan proposals:-

* The insetting of the villager settlement boundary is not appropriate as it could encourage over-development or excessive 'infilling' in the future. The village should not lose its Green Belt status as surely this gives some control of future development and growth options.

* The increase of village dwellings by 22% appears too high compared with other villages.

* Preferred sites 2 and 3 are far too small to accommodate the proposed dwellings unless, of course, high density housing is being proposed.

* Developing preferred sites 1, 2, 3 and 4 will give major access problems. With a very poor bus service (one an hour) most residents will require cars. Official estimates of 6 vehicular movements per day per dwelling could amount to 380 movements down a single narrow lane to an extremely dangerous junction by the Anchor public house every single day.

* The high proportion of affordable housing in the proposal (40 %?) would suggest an additional number of children of primary school age. The school is currently full. Has any consideration been made of extra classrooms and facilities? Also car parking which is a big problem especially if proposed site 5 is developed. (There is an unofficial arrangement for the parents to use this car park to transport children 'safely' to and from school).

* The village does not have a good range of services and facilities. It does have a primary school, church, public house and a village hall. But having no shop, apart from a wool shop and massage clinic can hardly be described as a good range of facilities.

* The hourly bus service can hardly be described as good accessibility to public transport. The possible reliance on this limited service by a large number of new residents, in affordable housing, would give major problems.

We know that additional housing should be provided in the village but bearing in mind the above points, we feel that the proposed scale is far too large for the village to sustain.

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The proposed quantity of 80 new dwellings is too high a number for the village to reasonably absorb and maintain its character. This should be reduced to a maximum of 50 over the next 15 years, which is still a large increase, beyond what would normally be expected for village growth.

It is not acceptable to turn Warwick district into an overpopulated suburbia - Leek Wootton already has issues with through traffic, and large increases in housing both here and close by in Kenilworth will lead to significant deterioration in the environment.

The proposed percentage increase in housing by approx 22.5% will have a significant impact on the village and the village infrastructure.
We feel that we should only have housing allocations in line with the percentage increases of the other villages under review.
We also understand that the village school is already at full capacity and will therefore require extra classrooms and other associated facilities, including extra parking spaces.

As a general comment, it is appreciated that some housing development is required but the nature and volume of it is totally out of keeping with the village and its development. In excess of a 22% increase in the settlements is not acceptable and the infrastructure would not be able to cope with it. Why was the original local plan revised?

Leek Wootton has a wide range of services and is well served by transport links. It should accommodate more development making the village more viable.

It is considered that site 10- land at Home Farm, Leek Wootton is an excellent location for additional housing development. Objection is raised to the fact that this site has not been allocated for housing development in particular for the reason that it considered to have ' high landscape impact and poor vehicle access'.
This representation should be read in conjunction with the Statement in support of the Representations also submitted by Deeley Group Ltd.
The site comprises 2.5 hectares of land, it is broadly rectangular in shape and is located on the western edge of the village. The site is accessed off Home Farm a cul-de-sac leading from Warwick Road which currently serves a number of residential properties.
It immediately adjoins the existing built up part of Leek Wootton and is in a sustainable location. The local facilities within the village are within walking distance of the site. These facilities include a primary school, village hall, place of worship and a public house. The village is serviced by public transport, with an hourly bus service to Warwick.
To summarise the site is in a sustainable location, adjacent to the built up area of the village of Leek Wootton. Future residents of the site would have the opportunity to access every day facilities and key destinations by a choice of transport modes. The site is available and achievable and offers a sustainable solution to assist in meeting the housing requirement for Leek Wootton.

Dear Sirs, having attended a very busy Parish Council Meeting the other evening, we thought we would put our thoughts to you if we may.

To be as brief as we possibly can, it would appear that the whole of the 'Local Plan' proposal for Leek Wootton and Parish is now being controlled by what Warwickshire Constabulary want, and they in turn just cannot make up their minds!

However, our comments below are still largely based on the "Local Plan" proposals, even though we now really cannot ignore the changes we were informed of the other evening, and that the Local Plan Booklet may already be out of date with a prospect of 90 houses now being proposed, all in the Police Headquarters, and NONE at the Manor House site within Police grounds by the way!

If we are to accept there has to be some development in Leek Wooton, and a portion of this is likely to be in the Police Headquarters, then we would probably have agreed to the development at 'Area 4 Woodcote House' on the Local Plan, and at this area only, for the 20 houses mentioned. It is an interesting observation however why 35 dwellings can be squeezed into Area 1 (the Paddock) with a developable area of 1.51 ha and only 20 dwellings are destined for Area 4 with a 1.76 ha development area. It was mentioned at our meeting that 11 'dwellings worth' of flats could actually be fitted into the Manor House itself .... could this be a relevant point?

It is quite strange that there seems to be no commercial interest in the the original Retirement Village option, with a rapidly ageing population etc, and even the Local Plan booklet mentions about Leek Wootton "there are particular local challenges around older residents looking to downsize and stay locally".

We will now explain why, in our opinion, the Local Plan booklet stating "Site access acceptable for a cluster of sites on the Woodcote House Estate" is totally wrong. Indeed, the booklet also mentions that "detailed site assessment work including vehicle access requirements and physical site contraints and impact" has been carried out. "Traffic impact & congestion" is mentioned etc etc. In our opinion, we feel that a proper survey would have revealed the Anchor 'T' junction to be a real problem for ANY moderate increase in traffic flows, not to mention the rumoured increase of 90 houses now that would in effect double the 90 or so houses that already exist in Woodcote Lane/Drive, Waller Close and Quarry Fields.

1) Traffic lights or a roundabout would somehow have to be provided at the end of Woodcote Lane (Anchor 'T' junction), and there are listed buildings surrounding this already very tight junction with extremely poor visibility.

2) There is an argument that traffic flows would be similar to that of the present Constabulary traffic, however, if the Police stay, we will be talking about an EXTRA 540 movements a day (90 houses x 6 daily movements) now also including weekends of course.

3) More importantly perhaps is that present traffic movements in and out for police patrol cars and staff are staggered through flexi-time etc. We can tell you that Woodcote Drive itself is not busy at all at say 8.30am (presumably because of flexi-time), so can one really imagine the 'bedlam' at the Anchor 'T' junction with up to 90 extra cars all to going in the same direction all at this time, PLUS scores of children walking to school as well!

4) The pollution aspect of stationary cars with their engines running in this banked area, re point 3)

5) The pedestrian safety aspect re point 3). The present pavement situation is dangerous for any pedestrian, let alone children, with VERY LITTLE prospect of adequate improvement!

6) The gates at the Headquarters main entrance are very narrow, and listed?

7) It has been mentioned that Woodcote Lane could be made 'one way', resulting in all residence actually having to drive to Kenilworth to travel to Warwick and the south, or vice versa. This really would be plain nonsense - not to mention the narrowness of Woodcote Lane Bridge (is that listed?) the awkward junction into Rouncil Lane, increasing congestion at the Kenilworth 6th form school, and at the Warwick Road junction, and then back south .... probably through Leek Wootton again!

8) All the above problems would still exist if access to the Discounted Option 10 on the Local Plan became available (even though this is agricultural land?) via the Tinka-tank area into Woodcote Lane.

9) All the above problems would still exist if a completely fresh entrance into the Headquarters site is created in Woodcote Lane.

One last point is that we suspect the Police Authority will continue to dismiss any development at the Manor House site for they still will not have made their minds up if they are going or staying. However, we have now heard that the amalgamation between the Warwickshire Police and their near neighbours is DEFINITELY going to happen by 2015/16. Presumably then, the Manor House site could well become available for development again, even if their costly Communication facility remains, so why can't we all procrastinate just a little longer so we don't end up with a situation of the Police Grounds full of houses and the actual Manor House site vacant and empty, OR the apocalyptic prospect it also being eventually developed, adding the original 20 dwelling allocation (or retirement village) to the 90, resulting in the possibility of say an extra 110 dwellings in Leek Wootton, ALL in the Police Grounds!!

'Woodcote' can take it's share, but how about the far more accessible and less controversial areas for the remainder - such as Discounted Areas 7 and 12 on the Local Plan which in our view would meet with very little objection.

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If you take an area bordering the left hand side of Hill Wootton Road, Tidmarsh Road, The Hamlet, Croft Road, The Meadows and Warwick Road within this area there are approximately 144 houses on this, the most densely populated area of Leek Wootton. This area is approximately 3 times greater then areas 1, 2 and 3 on the Police Headquarters so by this ratio the maximum number of houses which should be allowed on these sites in keeping with the ethos of L.W. should be 48, otherwise the nature of the village will be lost. The 95 houses proposed by the Police is hugely excessive and totally unreasonable.
Access to these areas is not feasible. Woodcote Lane is too narrow, has soft verges with no kerbs, there is no pedestrian footpath for walkers and the road is already over used by lorries from the abattoir which make it extremely dangerous. The junction by the Anchor Pub has experienced many accidents and is totally unsuitable for any increase in capacity. The proposed density of houses would produce 100/150 extra vehicles using this junction on a daily basis - given the Police are no longer abandoning the site.
The School would need an increase in classrooms and teachers.
At present there is no shop in the village for the elderly, or those without transport.

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