Mod 14 - Policy DS15

One very simple point ...What provision will be made to existing roads/new roads to accommodate such a large scale development?
Warwick and Leamington are frequently gridlocked with traffic currently, in particular the area Myton Road / Europa Way. I can only assume there is some master plan to alleviate the significant further increase in traffic volumes.

The land under consideration is designated Green Belt, and as such this cannot be changed unless Exceptional circumstances exist. I do not agree that these circumstances have been met by Warwick DC.
The proposed plans are to build houses for Coventry- this would be far better achieved by building closer to Coventry- less commuting, less environmental pollution, and less valuable land/ Green Belt near to Coventry would be better utilised. Further traffic congestion locally and the need for more road building would be further significant detrimental effects.
There are lover value Green Belt sites close to Coventry which should clearly be used in preference.
Destroying this valuable Green Belt land North of Leamington would significantly reduce the area of countryside between Leamington and Kenilworth, leading the way towards development of a large sprawling conurbation. The unique characteristics of the historic town of Leamington Spa would be irreversibly lost.
Productive farming land and precious wildlife ecosystems would be lost forever.
This particular area of countryside is highly valued and utilised by local residents for walking, running, cycling, exercise, dog-walking and family leisure time.
Regarding the planned park and ride scheme, would be a further environmental disaster. Loss of valuable countryside, increase in flooding, traffic congestion would all follow. I am not at all convinced a park and ride scheme is needed, and believe if would be poorly utilised. If necessary, a site to the South of the town or further out e,g, to the north of the A46/ A452 roundabouts would be more sensible.

The EXCEPTIONAL CIRCUMSTANCES required by the National Planning Policy Framework to remove the land North of Milverton from the Green Belt have not been demonstrated by Warwick District Council.

Notwithstanding the dismissal of the contribution that greenbelt land makes to encouraging sustainable development, sect. DS10 proposes that non-greenbelt land will be considered in favour of Greenbelt land except where there are no suitable alternatives.

If the proposed development is genuinely to support Coventry City Council's housing need; there are sustainable sites closer to Coventry that should be used in preference to the land North of Milverton to reduce unnecessary commuting, inevitable congestion and further road construction. To ignore this fact is to further dismiss the contribution that a local plan has to make to sustainable development in terms of natural resources (land, recreation amenity, wildlife, flooding, farming productivity etc.)

In practice it is unlikely that people who want to live and work in Coventry will buy houses on land North of Milverton and therefore this development proposal will not support Coventry's housing need. It would inevitably risk significant increase in commuting journeys and time which flies in the face of the definition of sustainable development - "development that is conducted without depletion of natural resources, without detriment to the future of future generations"

Precedence for releasing land from the Green Belt requires the "value" of potential sites to the Green Belt to be taken into account and those with the least value to be removed from the Green Belt first. WDC, in cooperation with Coventry City Council, has assessed sites on the edge of Coventry as being of lower Green Belt value.

Development at Old Milverton is not acceptable as a sustainable location for development to meet Coventry's housing needs; there are sites with a lower Green Belt value that should be used in preference to the land north of Milverton which would cause less detriment to the planning goal of encouraging sustainable development.

The "green lung" between Leamington and Kenilworth will be reduced to less than 1 1/2 miles.

The picturesque northern gateway to the historic regency town of Royal Leamington Spa will be destroyed.

Highly productive farming land will be lost together with long established wild life habitat.

The residents of local towns will be deprived of an area which is highly valued and sustainable for walking, running, cycling, riding, bird watching and is also used by local schools for educational walks.

The proposed park-and-ride scheme is unsustainable because:

There will be no dedicated buses; it will effectively be a car park near some bus-routes.

The site is too close to Leamington to reduce traffic problems. It would be better if the site was focused on the A46 roundabout with the A452, which could form part of the Thickthorn development, and provide for Leamington, Warwick, Kenilworth, Warwick University and potentially Coventry.

 Much of the traffic using the A452 would cross to the south of Leamington where there are the major employers.

 Shoppers are unlikely to use the park and ride when there is plenty of parking in Leamington

 Oxford appears to have the only park and ride scheme in the country which really works and this is because there is such limited parking in Oxford city centre. the same circumstances do not exist in Leamington spa

 There are already a lot of car parks in this area of Green Belt with impervious surfaces all of which reduce the areas ability to absorb rainfall and contribute to flooding in the area.

The circumstances detailed for removing the land North of Leamington from the Green Belt are not exceptional circumstances and therefore this should NOT be allowed to happen.
Coventry City Council should find land closer to their county line if the housing is truly in support of Coventry housing need. Persons working in Coventry need to be within a closer range of the city, not in Leamington. This represents a huge impact on housing and general infrastructure for the town of Leamington and the villages of Old Milverton.
The green belt should be protected. These are not exceptional circumstances.

The EXCEPTIONAL CIRCUMSTANCES required by the National Planning Policy Framework to remove the land North of Milverton from the Green Belt have not been demonstrated by Warwick District Council. The proposed development is to support Coventry City Council's housing need. There are sustainable sites closer to Coventry that should be used in preference to the land North of Milverton to reduce unnecessary commuting, inevitable congestion and further road construction. In practice it is unlikely that people who want to live and work in Coventry will buy houses on land North of Milverton and therefore this development proposal will not support Coventry's housing need. Precedence for releasing land from the Green Belt requires the "value" of potential sites to the Green Belt to be taken into account and those with the least value to be removed from the Green Belt first. WDC, in cooperation with Coventry City Council, has assessed sites on the edge of Coventry as being of lower Green Belt value. Even if development at Old Milverton was acceptable as a sustainable location for development, there are sites with a lower Green Belt value that should be used in preference to the land north of Milverton. The "green lung" between Leamington and Kenilworth will be reduced to less than 1 1/2 miles. The picturesque northern gateway to the historic regency town of Royal Leamington Spa will be destroyed. Highly productive farming land will be lost together with long established wild life habitat. The residents of local towns will be deprived of an area which is highly valued and sustainable for walking, running, cycling, riding, bird watching and is also used by local schools for educational walks. The proposed park-and-ride scheme is unsustainable because:  There will be no dedicated buses, so users will have to time visits to coincide with the bus timetable  The site is too close to Leamington. It would be better if the site was focused on the A46 roundabout with the A452, which could form part of the Thickthorn development, and provide for Leamington, Warwick, Kenilworth, Warwick University and potentially Coventry.  Much of the traffic using the A452 crosses to the south of Leamington where there are the major employers  Shoppers are unlikely to use the park and ride when there is plenty of parking in Leamington  Oxford appears to have the only park and ride scheme in the country which really works and this is because there is such limited parking in Oxford city centre.  There are already a lot of car parks in this area of Green Belt with impervious surfaces all of which reduce the areas ability to absorb rainfall and contribute to flooding A railway station is unviable because the railway line is in a deep cutting in Old Milverton making construction impractical

The draft local plan does not meet the criteria of "Exceptional circumstances" required to develop this Green Belt land.
The argument that the only land available is in Old Milverton is incorrect. The additional housing required to assist Coventry meeting their targets should be located closer to Coventry. The distance for commuters would increase pollution.
Sufficient land is available at a reasonable rate on the environs of Coventry that can be used without affecting the Green Belt of Old Milverton.
Therefore the Exceptional Circumstances requirements have not been met. The Local Plan significantly underestimates the capacity of land adjacent to Coventry to deliver Coventry's housing needed and therefore the development in Old Milverton is not required.
In a similar case in Cheltenham and Gloucester the Planning Inspector ruled that when releasing land from the Green Belt the "Green value" of the land should be rated and the least Green rated be removed first.
WDC and Coventry City Council have assessed the sites on the edge of Coventry and agreed that they are of a lower Green Belt Value.
Therefore the lower green belt value land should be released for the Local Plan and not Old Milverton land in North Leamington.

The Green Belt has been very effective in preventing Leamington joining with Kenilworth and Warwick. It thus does the job it was designed to do and assist in preventing the area from Wolverhampton to Leamington becoming one metropolis.

The WDC has complied with the duty to work with other local councils (Coventry City). In doing so it has not reacted the information that is included in the Coventry City Local Plan. Cooperating councils should provide housing land close to Coventry. Old Milverton is not close enough to Coventry to support the additional housing needs.

The Council has not shown that the Modification meets the 'Exceptional Circumstances' test.

The proposal is to support Coventry's housing needs. However, the site is 8+ miles from Coventry, there is no evidence that people who want to live/work in Coventry would want to live at such distance, and such development would result in even greater congestion on the A452.

There are alternative sites closer to Coventry capable of meeting those needs without the problems inherent in this proposal. Indeed, the Council, in its discussions with Coventry City Council, is aware of suitable sites adjoining Coventry more suitable for development.

I feel the exceptional circumstances required by the national planning policy framework to remove the land north of Milverton from the green belt have not been demonstrated by Warwick District Council.
It is to support Coventry City Council's housing need. There are sustainable sites closer to Coventry more suited. They would be more accessible to people wanting to live and work in Coventry.
We moved to North Leamington to be able to use this green belt land for the well being of our family. The loss of this area would significantly affect our health and way of life.

There is no justification to remove the area north of Milverton from greenbelt status.To create housing here for people working in Coventry will increase pollution and be to the general detriment to the local environment.

I have spent considerable time reviewing the proposed Local Plan and do not think that the exceptional circumstances required by the National Planning Policy Framework to remove the land North of Milverton from the Green Belt have been sufficiently demonstrated by Warwick District Council.

My particular concerns to this modification are as follows:

The proposed development is to support Coventry City Council's housing need. There are sustainable sites closer to Coventry that should be used in preference to the land North of Milverton to reduce unnecessary commuting, inevitable congestion and further road construction. I would question whether people who want to live and work in Coventry would choose to buy houses on land North of Milverton, so I can not see how the development proposal will support Coventry's housing needs.

I would further point to the precedence for releasing land from the Green Belt requires the "value" of potential sites to the Green Belt to be taken into account and those with the least value to be removed from the Green Belt first. I understand that WDC, in cooperation with Coventry City Council, has assessed sites on the edge of Coventry as being of lower Green Belt value. Therefore, even if development at Old Milverton was acceptable as a sustainable location for development, there are sites with a lower Green Belt value that should be used in preference to the land north of Milverton.

I would also highlight that the modification is unsound as it would result in "green lung" between Leamington and Kenilworth will be reduced to less than 1 1/2 miles.

The environmental and social consequences of the modification would also be extremely damaging and irreversible. Not only would the area lose highly productive farming land but also a fantastic recreational space. Like many other local residents, my family, including my two young children delight in walking, bird watching and enjoying the fresh air of this special area. I believe the protection of the Green belt is extremely important and I would urge that this modification be reconsidered.

This representation is about the land north of Milverton. I am a Fellow of the Insitute of Railway Operators, and am particularly concerned about the park-and-ride and railway station proposals, but also about wider transportation and infrastructure issues.

There is little evidence that much thought or planning has been done with regard to the wider infrastructure issues surrounding the proposed developments. How are adequate utility services to be provided? What is to be done to provide adequate provision for traffic, bearing in mind that the only way in which bus and train operators will provide services if they are profitable - most short-distance services will depend on substantial continuing public subsidy?

Dualling of the A452 between Blackdown and the A46 will in practice only serve to move peak-time traffic jams to the next bottleneck; any likely distribution of the desired destinations will reveal a large proportion of vehicular traffic which will want to go through Kenilworth or across Leamington Spa, and a very high proportion of these will be by car, simply adding to the current congestion and air pollution.

The mention of a park-and-ride facility is, particularly, a misleading example of ill-thought-out wishful thinking. Residents of the new development will not need to park at it; bus operators will not wish to extend journey time by diverting existing routes into it, while motorists already in their cars on the way to destinations in central Leamington, Kenilworth or Coventry, which have good on-street and off-street parking arrangements (unlike medieval York and Oxford), will have little incentive to incur additional journey time and expense by diverting to it. Buses from the park-and-ride to the town centres will in any case be caught in the same traffic jams; or do the planners wish to ban cars altogether from the town centres?

The proposed railway station at Old Milverton is even more of a pipe-dream. Even if one could be built at an acceptable cost at the proposed location - the railway is either in deep cutting or on relatively high embankment in this area - no rail passenger operator will be keen to provide a short-distance service which will require the movement of additional seats from main depots in Birmingham or further afield and extend the journey time of trains already on the line, leaving aside the inadequacy of the current rail layouts at Leamington and Coventry. In addition, consideration must also be given to the needs of freight operators, who have long-term contractual rights to use the line.

What makes park and ride work is frequency of service; there is no reason to believe that this could be provided at other than astronomical cost.

I have not seen any objective evidence about the Stratford Parkway scheme of park-and-ride. Observation does not suggest that it is successful.

Park and Ride:
I object:
There are no buses laid on, merely local buses calling. Shoppers will not see this as a Park and Ride
as they will have to take pot luck that there is room on a bus for them as it calls. There will not be a bus waiting for them to board and relax
The site is too close to Leamington. Better would be a site at the A46 roundabout which will be the main feed anyway for users. That site could be used for Kenilworth, Warwick, Warwick University and South Coventry. All of which have car park needs
Car parking in Leamington is adequate and there is no reason to believe it will not be in the
future. The cheap short stay ticket pricing works well in the town.
Yet more car parks in the Green Belt , with their tarmac surfaces, means more contribution to flooding
A lot of A452 traffic is crossing to businesses in the South of Leamington, not to go shopping

The EXCEPTIONAL CIRCUMSTANCES required by the National Planning Policy Framework to remove the land North of Milverton from the Green Belt have not been demonstrated by Warwick District Council.
The proposed development is to support Coventry City Council's housing need. There are sustainable sites closer to Coventry that should be used in preference to the land North of Milverton to reduce unnecessary commuting, inevitable congestion and further road construction.
In practice it is unlikely that people who want to live and work in Coventry will buy houses on land North of Milverton and therefore this development proposal will not support Coventry's housing need.
The "green lung" between Leamington and Kenilworth will be reduced to less than 1 1/2 miles.
The picturesque northern gateway to the historic regency town of Royal Leamington Spa will be destroyed.
Highly productive farming land will be lost together with long established wild life habitat.
The residents of local towns will be deprived of an area which is highly valued and sustainable for walking, running, cycling, riding, bird watching and is also used by local schools for educational walks.
The proposed park-and-ride scheme is unsustainable because:
 There will be no dedicated buses, so users will have to time visits to coincide with the bus timetable
 The site is too close to Leamington. It would be better if the site was focused on the A46 roundabout with the A452, which could form part of the Thickthorn development, and provide for Leamington, Warwick, Kenilworth, Warwick University and potentially Coventry.
 Much of the traffic using the A452 crosses to the south of Leamington where there are the major employers
 Shoppers are unlikely to use the park and ride when there is plenty of parking in Leamington
 Oxford appears to have the only park and ride scheme in the country which really works and this is because there is such limited parking in Oxford city centre.
 There are already a lot of car parks in this area of Green Belt with impervious surfaces all of which reduce the areas ability to absorb rainfall and contribute to flooding
A railway station is unviable because the railway line is in a deep cutting in Old Milverton making construction impractical and there are no local passenger trains running along the line.
The land North of Milverton should remain in the Green Belt

Removal of land north of leamington from the green belt is unsound for several reasons. It is reducing the clear rural definition between leamington spa and kenilworth towns, and spoils the approach in to leamington from the north. Access in and out of leamington spa along the kenilworth road is very congested especially at peak times, and I do not feel that the infrastructure could cope with the additional traffic that such a development would generate.

Removal of land north of leamington from the green belt is unsound for several reasons. It is reducing the clear rural definition between leamington spa and kenilworth towns, and spoils the approach in to leamington from the north. Access in and out of leamington spa along the kenilworth road is very congested especially at peak times, and I do not feel that the infrastructure could cope with the additional traffic that such a development would generate.

The proposed park-and-ride scheme to the North of Milverton is unsustainable because:
The proposed site is too close to Leamington, and would be better focused on the A46/A452 roundabout.
Shoppers are unlikely to use the park and ride scheme when there is plenty of parking in Leamington
Commuters are unlikely to use the scheme, since much of the traffic using the A452 crosses to the south of Leamington where there are major employers.
A railway station is nonviable since the railway line is in a deep cutting in Old Milverton making construction prohibitively costly.

1. The EXCEPTIONAL CIRCUMSTANCES required by the National Planning Policy Framework to remove the land North of Milverton from the Green Belt have not been demonstrated by Warwick District Council.
2. Precedence for releasing land from the Green Belt requires the "value" of potential sites to the Green Belt to be taken into account and those with the least value to be removed from the Green Belt first. WDC, in cooperation with Coventry City Council, has assessed sites on the edge of Coventry as being of lower Green Belt value. Even if development at Old Milverton was acceptable as a sustainable location for development, there are sites with a lower Green Belt value that should be used in preference to the land north of Milverton.
3. The proposed development is to support Coventry City Council's housing need. There are sustainable sites closer to Coventry that should be used in preference to the land North of Milverton to reduce unnecessary commuting, inevitable congestion, further road construction and resulting detrimental environmental impact.
4. The "green lung" between Leamington and Kenilworth will be reduced to less than 1 1/2 miles.
5. Highly productive farming land will be lost together with long established wild life habitat.
6. The residents of local towns will be deprived of an area which is highly valued and sustainable for walking, running, cycling, riding, bird watching and is also used by local schools for educational walks.
7. The picturesque northern gateway to the historic regency town of Royal Leamington Spa will be destroyed.
8. In practice it is unlikely that people who choose to live and work in Coventry will buy houses on land North of Milverton and therefore this development proposal will not support Coventry's housing need.
9. The proposed park-and-ride scheme is unsustainable because:
* There will be no dedicated buses, so users will have to time visits to coincide with the bus timetable
* The site is too close to Leamington. It would be better if the site was focused on the A46 roundabout with the A452, which could form part of the Thickthorn development, and provide for Leamington,Warwick, Kenilworth, Warwick University and potentially Coventry.
* Much of the traffic using the A452 crosses to the south of Leamington where there are the major employers
* Shoppers are unlikely to use the park and ride when there is plenty of parking in Leamington
10. There are already a lot of car parks in this area of Green Belt with impervious surfaces all of which reduce the areas ability to absorb rainfall and contribute to flooding
11. A railway station is unviable because the railway line is in a deep cutting in Old Milverton making construction impractical

1. The EXCEPTIONAL CIRCUMSTANCES required by the National Planning Policy Framework to remove the land North of Milverton from the Green Belt have not been demonstrated by Warwick District Council.
2. The proposed development is to support Coventry City Council's housing need. There are sustainable sites closer to Coventry that should be used in preference to the land North of Milverton to reduce unnecessary commuting, inevitable congestion and further road construction.
3. Precedence for releasing land from the Green Belt requires the "value" of potential sites to the Green Belt to be taken into account and those with the least value to be removed from the Green Belt first. WDC, in cooperation with Coventry City Council, has assessed sites on the edge of Coventry as being of lower Green Belt value. Even if development at Old Milverton was acceptable as a sustainable location for development, there are sites with a lower Green Belt value that should be used in preference to the land north of Milverton. Just looking at a google map of Coventry, I estimated that probably up to 1/5th of Coventry is still undeveloped. Surely Coventry City Council should be looking to 'infill' these areas (which are surely of little environmental and no agricultural value) instead of offloading its housing problems onto other local areas?
4. The "green lung" between Leamington and Kenilworth will be reduced to less than 1 1/2 miles.
5. The picturesque northern gateway to the historic regency town of Royal Leamington Spa will be destroyed.
6. Highly productive farming land will be lost together with long established wild life habitat. Having known the farmer for several years and working in the industry I definitely know this to be true. The world has an impending food crisis. The worlds population is set to nearly double from 6 to 11 billion by 2050. We cannot feed the current world population now and we are not 'self sufficient' in food production in this country. We can ill afford to turn farmland over to housing
7. The residents of local towns will be deprived of an area which is highly valued and sustainable for walking, running, cycling, riding, bird watching and is also used by local schools for educational walks. We walked through the proposed development area on the afternoon of the 2nd April. During our 10min walk through the area we counted 28 people using the footpath! There must be hundreds, if not thousands of local residents who enjoy this beautiful area of greenbelt regularly who would think the same.
8. Surely the 3000? New homes that are being built on the southern edge of Leamington will satisfy the local housing market for the foreseeable future. They are much closer to the towns major employers as well, keeping traffic movements to a minimum.
9. In practice it is unlikely that people who want to live and work in Coventry will buy houses on land North of Milverton and therefore this development proposal will not support Coventry's housing need.
10. The proposed park-and-ride scheme is unsustainable because:
* There will be no dedicated buses, so users will have to time visits to coincide with the bus timetable. In my opinion this would be a waste of time. The buses between Leamington and Kenilworth are usually 75% filled anyway. This plan would not IMO reduce the number of people coming from Kenilworth/Coventry by car. A much better solution would be to increase the number of buses running between these 3 places allowing residents a better option than driving to Leamington.
* The site is too close to Leamington. It would be better if the site was focused on the A46 roundabout with the A452, which could form part of the Thickthorn development, and provide for Leamington, Warwick, Kenilworth, Warwick University and potentially Coventry.
* Much of the traffic using the A452 crosses to the south of Leamington where there are the major employers. I doubt these people would be using Public transport since most of them work for a large, local car manufacturer and have been given company cars!
* Shoppers are unlikely to use the park and ride when there is plenty of parking in Leamington. I have never had a problem parking in Leamington on the numerous occasions I came to the town when I lived in Princethorpe, even after the council decided to restrict street parking in the area to the north of the town centre to residents only. If there really is perceived to be a problem with parking, then maybe these restriction should be lifted?
* Oxford appears to have the only park and ride scheme in the country which really works and this is because there is such limited parking in Oxford city centre.
* There are already a lot of car parks in this area of Green Belt with impervious surfaces all of which reduce the areas ability to absorb rainfall and contribute to flooding

11. A railway station is unviable because the railway line is in a deep cutting in Old Milverton making construction impractical

Park and Ride N Leamington
There are no buses laid on, merely local buses calling. Shoppers will not see this as a Park and Ride
as they will have to take pot luck that there is room on a bus for them as it calls. There will not be a bus waiting for them to board and relax
The site is too close to Leamington. Better would be a site at the A46 roundabout which will be the main feed anyway for users. That site could be used for Kenilworth, Warwick, Warwick University and South Coventry. All of which have car park needs
Car parking in Leamington is adequate and there is no reason to believe it will not be in the
future. The cheap short stay ticket pricing works well in the town.
Yet more car parks in the Green Belt , with their tarmac surfaces, means more contribution to flooding
A lot of A452 traffic is crossing to businesses in the South of Leamington, not to go shopping

I believe that the proposed modifications to the local plan and the proposal to allocate land north of Milverton for development are unsound for the following reasons:

The EXCEPTIONAL CIRCUMSTANCES required by the National Planning Policy Framework to remove the land North of Milverton from the Green Belt have not been demonstrated by Warwick District Council.
The proposed development is to support Coventry City Council's housing need. There are sustainable sites closer to Coventry that should be used in preference to the land North of Milverton to reduce unnecessary commuting, inevitable congestion and further road construction.
I have lived in Leamington for over four years and commuted into Coventry for three of these. The current road system can not cope with the volume of traffic on the A452. It often used to take me longer to travel the 4 miles out of Leamington as to travel the subsequent 10 miles to get into my place of work in Coventry. The one joining road to the major highway of the A46, the A452 is narrow, with banks on either side, two roundabouts to navigate and a bridge over a river so there is no obvious way to widen this to cope with additional traffic from a new housing estate or park and ride scheme. The road is also prone to flooding. In addition, the town centre is grid locked in the morning with traffic travelling from north to south Leamington as there are again two bridges to navigate and several major employers in South Leamington.

I choose and can afford to live in Leamington Spa but the reality is the land to the immediate north of Leamington Spa in North Milverton carries a large premium and as such it is unlikely that people from Coventry will be buying these houses and therefore this development proposal will not support Coventry's housing need.
Precedence for releasing land from the Green Belt requires the "value" of potential sites to the Green Belt to be taken into account and those with the least value to be removed from the Green Belt first. WDC, in cooperation with Coventry City Council, has assessed sites on the edge of Coventry as being of lower Green Belt value. Even if development at Old Milverton was acceptable as a sustainable location for development, there are sites with a lower Green Belt value that should be used in preference to the land north of Milverton. These sites are closer to Coventry and will cause less impact on local communities.
Currently the residents of Leamington, Warwick and Kenilworth use the North Milverton green belt area for walking, running, cycling, riding, bird watching and it is also used by local schools for educational walks. The area provides a picturesque northern gateway to the historic regency town of Royal Leamington Spa and separates Leamington Spa as a town from neighbouring Kenilworth.
This land has long established wild life habitat and highly productive farming land. While I understand the need to build new houses it does not make any sense to build on such a lovely area, which gives so many local people so much pleasure when there are alternative sites available closer to Coventry. What legacy are we leaving for future generations if we destroy green belt land simply because it carries a premium for developers when there are real alternatives?

With regard to the proposed park-and-ride scheme I believe the proposed site of this is unsustainable because:
 _The site is too close to Leamington, as per my points above, it would simply add to existing traffic congestion. It would be better if the site was focused on the A46 roundabout with the A452, which could form part of the Thickthorn development, and provide for Leamington, Warwick, Kenilworth, Warwick University and potentially Coventry.
 _Much of the traffic using the A452 crosses to the south of Leamington where there are the major employers
 _Shoppers are unlikely to use the park and ride when there is plenty of parking in Leamington

Traffic congestion.
The exceptional circumstances required by the National Planning Policy Framework to remove the land north of Leamington have not been demonstrated.
Loss of farming land and of visual amenity and green space between Leamington and Kenilworth.

Park and Ride.
Not a proper park anmd rise, just waiting for a bus that might come along full. People won't use that.
Wrong place, should be nearer the A46 roundabout.
Car parking more than adequate in Leamington at present. If this situation changes in the future the park and ride issue, placed somewhere, can be revisited. Don't waste money and time and Green Belt land on what "might be" at some time in the future.
More tarmac means less drainage for the land (flood risk, aren't we supposed to avoid this?)
In other words a complete waste of time and resources

The EXCEPTIONAL CIRCUMSTANCES required by the National Planning Policy Framework to remove the land North of Milverton from the Green Belt have not been demonstrated by Warwick District Council.

The proposed development is to support Coventry City Council's housing need. There are sustainable sites closer to Coventry that should be used in preference to the land North of Milverton to reduce unnecessary commuting, inevitable congestion and further road construction and would be contrary to Coventry's local plan to avoid adding to these issues. Currently getting from the edge of Leamington to the A46 which is less than 2 miles takes over 10-20 mins at peak times or over an hour on really bad days

In practice it is unlikely that people who want to live and work in Coventry will buy houses on land North of Milverton and therefore this development proposal will not support Coventry's housing need.

Precedence for releasing land from the Green Belt requires the "value" of potential sites to the Green Belt to be taken into account and those with the least value to be removed from the Green Belt first. WDC, in cooperation with Coventry City Council, has assessed sites on the edge of Coventry as being of lower Green Belt value. Even if development at Old Milverton was acceptable as a sustainable location for development, there are sites with a lower Green Belt value that should be used in preference to the land north of Milverton.

The "green lung" between Leamington and Kenilworth will be reduced to less than 1 1/2 miles.

Highly productive farming land will be lost together with long established wild life habitat.

The residents of local towns will be deprived of an area which is highly valued and sustainable for walking, running, cycling, riding, bird watching and is also used by local schools for educational walks.

The proposed park-and-ride scheme is unsustainable because:
* There will be no dedicated buses, so users will have to time visits to coincide with the bus timetable
* The site is too close to Leamington. It would be better if the site was focused on the A46 roundabout with the A452, which could form part of the Thickthorn development, and provide for Leamington, Warwick, Kenilworth, Warwick University and potentially Coventry.
* Much of the traffic using the A452 crosses to the south of Leamington where there are the major employers
* Shoppers are unlikely to use the park and ride when there is plenty of parking in Leamington all year round so where is the business case for this need?

A railway station is unviable because the railway line is in a deep cutting in Old Milverton making construction impractical and will create unnecessary access issues. Where is the business case for this option surely it would be better value to improve existing stations and their accessability?

The potential for employment land would surely be better focused on utlising existing areas such as stoneleigh and deer park and the like improving the infrasturer to support these areas which are currently poorly supported

The proposed development of this Green Belt land to north of Leamington is to meet Coventry's housing needs when evidence shows that there are sustainable sites closer to Coventry which could be used without incurring additional commuting problems, additional congestion to Leamington, pollution and construction of roads. Additionally, given the high Green Belt value of the Milverton land, it is unacceptable to use this in preference to other available sites of lower Green Belt value.
Houses needed for Coventry should be built as close to Coventry as possible not on Green Belt land some 15 miles away, thereby spoiling the attractive entrance to L/Spa and destroying this beautiful stretch of English countryside.
A Park & Ride scheme in this area would be unsustainable as it is unlikely to be used as there is plenty of parking in L/Spa; shopping areas are spread out over the town and retail parks in south of town; proposed area for P & R is too close to L/Spa & would be better placed near A46 roundabout.

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The EXCEPTIONAL CIRCUMSTANCES to remove the land from north Milverton have not being shown by WDC. The park and ride scheme is too close to leamington to be used by Leamington/kenilworth people, as there is abundant cheap parking already in Leamington and also there will be no dedicated bus service for such.

The proposed park-and-ride scheme is unsustainable. This is because:
* There will be no dedicated buses, so users will have to time visits to coincide with the existing bus route timetable. As the new residents will not want to use the park and ride, congestion along the Kenilworth road at weekends will reach the point that people will be discouraged from shopping in Leamington.
* Shoppers are therefore unlikely to use the park and ride when there is plenty of parking in Leamington. I never fail to get a parking space in Leamington, even at busy times.
* The site is too close to Leamington. It would be better if the site was focused on the A46 roundabout with the A452, which could form part of the Thickthorn development, and provide for Leamington, Warwick, Kenilworth, Warwick University and potentially Coventry. Oxford appears to have the only park and ride scheme in the country which really works and this is because there is such limited parking in Oxford city centre.

Exceptional circumstances for altering the Green Belt north of Milverton have not been demonstrated. The Park and Ride scheme is unsustainable without dedicated buses and it is too close to the town where shoppers have ample parking. (Only Oxford has a scheme which works because city parking is so limited). Much of the A452 traffic goes south to the major employment sites anyway. It would be better sited on the A46/A452 roundabout.
The proposal for a railway station is deeply flawed and not viable, as construction is not practical in such a deep cutting in Old Milverton.

The EXCEPTIONAL CIRCUMSTANCES required by the National Planning Policy Framework to remove the land North of Milverton from the Green Belt have not been demonstrated by Warwick District Council.
The proposed development is to support Coventry City Council's housing need. There are sustainable sites closer to Coventry that should be used in preference to the land North of Milverton to reduce unnecessary commuting, inevitable congestion and further road construction.
In practice it is unlikely that people who want to live and work in Coventry will buy houses on land North of Milverton and therefore this development proposal will not support Coventry's housing need.
Precedence for releasing land from the Green Belt requires the "value" of potential sites to the Green Belt to be taken into account and those with the least value to be removed from the Green Belt first. WDC, in cooperation with Coventry City Council, has assessed sites on the edge of Coventry as being of lower Green Belt value. Even if development at Old Milverton was acceptable as a sustainable location for development, there are sites with a lower Green Belt value that should be used in preference to the land north of Milverton.
The "green lung" between Leamington and Kenilworth will be reduced to less than 1 1/2 miles.
The picturesque northern gateway to the historic regency town of Royal Leamington Spa will be destroyed.
Highly productive farming land will be lost together with long established wild life habitat.
The residents of local towns will be deprived of an area which is highly valued and sustainable for walking, running, cycling, riding, bird watching and is also used by local schools for educational walks.
The proposed park-and-ride scheme is unsustainable because:
 There will be no dedicated buses, so users will have to time visits to coincide with the bus timetable
 The site is too close to Leamington. It would be better if the site was focused on the A46 roundabout with the A452, which could form part of the Thickthorn development, and provide for Leamington, Warwick, Kenilworth, Warwick University and potentially Coventry.
 Much of the traffic using the A452 crosses to the south of Leamington where there are the major employers
 Shoppers are unlikely to use the park and ride when there is plenty of parking in Leamington
 Oxford appears to have the only park and ride scheme in the country which really works and this is because there is such limited parking in Oxford city centre.
 There are already a lot of car parks in this area of Green Belt with impervious surfaces all of which reduce the areas ability to absorb rainfall and contribute to flooding
A railway station is unviable because the railway line is in a deep cutting in Old Milverton making construction impractical

This land represents a green space which improves the quality of life of walkers, cyclists and runners from all around the town.

The land designated to be removed from the green belt would be of no effective use to meet the stated housing needs of Coventry. It is not on an adequate access route; it is too far to be appealing to people working in Coventry; and it would increase road traffic in ways which are inconsistent with the 'green' aspirations of both towns.

There are green belt sites already designated of lower value than this area, which could be developed instead.