Publication Draft

Object

Representation ID: 6919

Received: 25/09/2009

Respondent: Bishops Tachbrook Parish Council

Bishop's Tachbrook Parish Council believe that the Preferred Option is not the best choice for Warwick District - but that it is possible to find a better alternative
ï‚· The popular Options and Directions of Growth have been set aside
ï‚· The key issues (e.g. air quality) have disppeared
ï‚· Regeneration of the deprived areas of the towns is not persued
ï‚· The quantity of green field proposed for development is much higher than it needs to be
This culminates in the proposal for development on the green fields of Lower Heathcote Farm and Grove Farm, on the south side of Harbury Lane and the northern bank of the Tach Brook.
This is something that we find wholly unacceptable because it threatens the very existence of our village. As a group, we know our residents do not want this.
For this reason, we strongly object to WDC's Core Strategy Preferred Options.
We have thoroughly reviewed the sites listed in the Housing Land Assessments, and we believe there are brown field sites where gains in employment land or housing could be made. We are therefore able to propose at least one alternative which:
ï‚· Honours the outcome of the Public Consultation into the Options.
ï‚· Retains the historic buildings against a rural backdrop - the fundamental essence of Warwick District.
ï‚· Seeks to regenerate the deprived areas.
ï‚· Seeks to better utilise brown field sites.
ï‚· Reduces the quantity of green fields required for development.
ï‚· Requires less infrastructure.
We recommend that the Council re-considers the Preferred Options in order to achieve the outcome which is the least harmful to Warwick District.
Vision & Strategy
The Parish Council does not agree with the Vision in the Preferred Option. Either within the 10 statements or in additional statements the following should be included in the Vision.
1. A significant proportion of the population lives in rural communities (56,000). Village communities should be protected from urban development and nurtured by providing essential resources. The vision gives more attention to conserving buildings than conserving communities.
2. No vision is provided for the growing problem of an ageing population. There will be greater numbers over 65 and active elderly requiring independent living but with support and social facilities that could be helped by the retirement village concept, releasing family homes to the housing market.
3. Statement 3 should be extended to include provision of more University Halls of Residence to release family homes occupied by fulltime students in both Coventry and Warwick DC. In 2001 6,424 students were resident in Warwick district. Warwick university has 16500 ft students (soon expected to be 20,000) of which 5000 have halls accommodation If 5000 more were in halls, over 1000 houses would be released towards the supposed housing need and many of these would be affordable letting homes. Could be funded in part by development levy or housing associations.
The Parish Council does not agree with the Growth Strategy in the Preferred Option.
1. There are no references to improving transport and mobility for the whole community.
2. Objective No5 implies that development is the only remedy to improve vibrancy. There is also no reference to developing a learning culture and insufficient reference to the development of cultural attractions.
3. No 6 should state that Grade 1 & 2 agricultural land should not be considered for housing development because of the need to avert national future food production crises. Land that is currently subject to rural area policies should remain protected in order to facilitate objectives 10 & 13.
4. The strategic objectives should recognize the interdependence between WDC and neighbouring authorities in particular Coventry and Rugby. Many WDC residents work in them and many of their residents work in WDC. Hence when considering employment, housing and transport issues, authorities should work together to produce plans that help all communities.

Object

Representation ID: 6920

Received: 25/09/2009

Respondent: Bishops Tachbrook Parish Council

Strategic Objectives
The Parish Council does not agree with the Strategic Objectives. The Preferred Strategy does not do the following.
1. It doesn‟t fulfil the emerging Regional & Sub-regional Spatial Strategies as there is little development focus on the North-South Coventry / Leamington Spa-Warwick corridor.
2. It doesn‟t comply with vision statements 1 & 10 since the preferred option develops 340ha of Grade 2 Agricultural land and only 16.63 ha of brownfield sites (windfalls excepted). If brownfield is raised to 47ha, Agricultural Land (Class 2 - good, arable) loss can reduce to 150ha. DEFRA report on Food by 2050 (published Aug 09) shows that it is essential to keep all arable land if food to the UK population is to be sufficient.
3. Transport journeys will not be minimized by building to the south since occupants will not travel conveniently to the south but need as much or more access north, putting additional pressure on the already overstretched 4 river/rail crossings between Warwick & Leamington. Slower traffic produces more CO2 per mile than free flowing. So spread development to spread the load over existing networks to maintain free flowing traffic.

Object

Representation ID: 6921

Received: 25/09/2009

Respondent: Bishops Tachbrook Parish Council

Employment
The Parish Council does not believe that all reasonable options for employment land have been identified. Significant areas of employment land have been vacant for the whole of the last economic cycle. Therefore there is insufficient demand for further employment. Supporting this, developments within Warwick Technology Park have also been vacant for extended periods, post completion.
Types of employment are changing from manufacturing (requiring large sites) to high technology based which is more suitable for mixed development. This also gives better opportunities for shorter journeys to work reducing transport and parking needs. It allows better use of land with multistorey provision giving more jobs/ha. and can be more acceptable to town centre locations. Employment development can only be initiated by businesses with a need. We should only accept requests for permission where the number of jobs/ha is above a determined level depending on location. There is little benefit on more warehousing that only gives a few low grade jobs/ha. Consequently, existing poorly used employment land should be comprehensively planned to give high return in jobs/ha, improving poor brownfield sites and relaxing demand on agricultural land, which is of course employment land as well being land essential for supplying food for the population. Agriculture hardly gets a mention in your preferred option document except to mention a strong agricultural economy. Thereafter, it is ignored or damaged by rampant development proposals.

Object

Representation ID: 6922

Received: 25/09/2009

Respondent: Bishops Tachbrook Parish Council

Land at Lower Heathcote Farm
The Parish Council believes that:
1. To achieve the employment land to support the target housing requirement of the WMRA, it is unnecessary to develop this Grade 2 agricultural land because there are sufficient sites available on brownfield, lower grade green land and sites at the edge of the city of Coventry that are more appropriate and from which a choice can be made.
2. It is not necessary to re classify arable land for employment before all long-neglected employment land has been fully utilized and that it is imperative that this grade 2 farmland is not given over to development
3. It would lose a significant piece of high landscape quality Warwickshire countryside that is effectively much larger than the plan would suggest being one side of a valley that falls between 45 and 60ft (75mAod down to 55m) down to the historic Tach Brook that was part of the boundary that separated the Saxon Hwicce tribe from the Mercian tribe in north Warwickshire. To build on one side of the valley would ruin the aspect from the other side.
4. It will destroy the Tach Brook valley buffer between the town and village to dimensions that are too small to be effective. It would be particularly disastrous if the land is covered with factories and other employment land detritus.

Support

Representation ID: 6923

Received: 25/09/2009

Respondent: Bishops Tachbrook Parish Council

Land West of Europa Way
The Parish Council would support development of this site only on the condition that all other all other employment land in the district has been fully developed and has a high occupancy. Hence, Phase 1 should only consist of brownfield developments and this site should not enter the programme before Phase 2 or even Phase 3. By that time, it will be possible to verify the current population estimates for that time period to confirm whether further expansion is justified or not.

Comment

Representation ID: 6924

Received: 25/09/2009

Respondent: Bishops Tachbrook Parish Council

Land at Thickthorn
All communities should provide sufficient local employment land. The Parish Council would only support the reclassification of this site once the other employment land in Kenilworth has been developed and has a high occupancy.
K01, K05, K06 & K09 cover the site from Leamington Road to Rocky Lane with the A46 to the SE and suggest 50% housing and 50% other. Apart from access at the south by the gatehouse, access to the majority of the site is from Glasshouse Lane which serves the residential area of Windy Arbour. This is not acceptable for any employment requiring other than light vehicle access and would naturally lead to a higher % of residential to say 65% with the remainder split between employment and recreational. If employment demand does not materialize, then a greater proportion of residential would be acceptable.

Support

Representation ID: 6925

Received: 25/09/2009

Respondent: Bishops Tachbrook Parish Council

Land West of Europa Way
The Parish Council would support development of this site only on the condition that all other all other employment land in the district has been fully developed and has a high occupancy. Hence, Phase 1 should only consist of brownfield developments and this site should not enter the programme before Phase 2 or even Phase 3. By that time, it will be possible to verify the current population estimates for that time period to confirm whether further expansion is justified or not.

Object

Representation ID: 6926

Received: 25/09/2009

Respondent: Bishops Tachbrook Parish Council

Land at Lower Heathcote Farm
The Parish Council believes that:
1. To achieve the employment land to support the target housing requirement of the WMRA, it is unnecessary to develop this Grade 2 agricultural land because there are sufficient sites available on brownfield, lower grade green land and sites at the edge of the city of Coventry that are more appropriate and from which a choice can be made.
2. It is not necessary to re classify arable land for employment before all long-neglected employment land has been fully utilized and that it is imperative that this grade 2 farmland is not given over to development
3. It would lose a significant piece of high landscape quality Warwickshire countryside that is effectively much larger than the plan would suggest being one side of a valley that falls between 45 and 60ft (75mAod down to 55m) down to the historic Tach Brook that was part of the boundary that separated the Saxon Hwicce tribe from the Mercian tribe in north Warwickshire. To build on one side of the valley would ruin the aspect from the other side.
4. It will destroy the Tach Brook valley buffer between the town and village to dimensions that are too small to be effective. It would be particularly disastrous if the land is covered with factories and other employment land detritus.

Comment

Representation ID: 6927

Received: 25/09/2009

Respondent: Bishops Tachbrook Parish Council

Land at King's Hill
This land is in Warwick district and therefore the Parish Council believes that this land should contribute towards Warwick District‟s allocation of employment land. The 269 ha allocated could not only provide land for 3500 homes for Coventry, but also provide a further 2700 homes for WDC. If the 3500 houses are for Coventry to support Coventry Employment requirements within the city boundary, then the mix suggested of 37.5% residential is low and could easily be 50%. Being part of the city, 60 dph would not be unreasonable for 33% of the residential with 40dph for the remainder.

Object

Representation ID: 6928

Received: 25/09/2009

Respondent: Bishops Tachbrook Parish Council

Town Centres
The Parish Council does not think that the Council has identified all reasonable options. Contrary to the approach taken in the development of the Preferred Option Paper for housing and employment land, there is no strategy provided as to how the town centres should evolve over the term. There is conflict between development of town centres to promote their vitality and viability and conservation desire to maintain the centres as they were. Conservation should be reserved for buildings or areas which are good examples of their kind and need refurbishment to keep them economically viable but not where to do so would impair the vitality and attractiveness that could otherwise be achieved. This is a particular problem in Leamington and Warwick which is made more difficult by the mixing of traffic with shops, arising from the town layout designed before the invention of motor vehicles. Resolving this issue needs a bold strategy to change current principles.
If 45,000 sq m is said to be required for office floorspace within or on the edge of Leamington town centre, has the need for the 4,500 or so jobs that would arise to fill that area been identified in terms of businesses looking to open or expand in this location? It could only work if adequate roads for the traffic generated and the parking that is essential for workers and customers is created to attract businesses into the town.
The Parish Council does not think that the Council has correctly determined the hierarchy of the town centres. The strategy for Leamington town centre needs to be clearer on its approach to dealing with the underperformance and should set out the options more clearly for sites for retail development. The underuse of shops in Leamington and Warwick may well arise from the introduction of internet shopping as well as impediments to customers from poor parking arrangements and charges. Before any ambitious plans are embarked on, customer satisfaction studies need to establish whether any new developments can be sustained.