Publication Draft

Object

Representation ID: 6962

Received: 25/09/2009

Respondent: Bishops Tachbrook Parish Council

Natural Environment
The Parish Council does not agree that all reasonable options have been identified. Areas of restraint are not a sufficient instrument to adequately protect the environment. This is demonstrated by the ease with which the existing areas of restraint are being rubbed out by the Preferred Options Paper. They amount to window dressing and do not, in reality, offer any additional protection over Rural Area Polices. AORs need to have the same status as green belt. Further thought needs to be given to how protection to the natural landscape can be increased. Rural Area policies apply to all the real countryside. Greenbelt is an artificial measure to prevent conurbations joining where severe pressure for development would otherwise occur. But this makes real countryside ie from the south of Leamington to the Oxfordshire boundary less protected than greenbelt. Hence the current attack on greenfield by WDC in an attempt to satisfy unreasonable demands of the government.
As conservation is onerously rigorously enforced to old buildings, it also ought to be applied to landscapes and countryside in so far as development is concerned.
The proposed AOR north of Bishops Tachbrook must be extended to Harbury Lane to the north, to Europa Way to the west and to the Fosse Way to the East. It will be meaningless if it cannot be given the status of Green Belt. Existing AOR‟s should be respected and maintained. We do not support the Council‟s Preferred Option.

Object

Representation ID: 6963

Received: 25/09/2009

Respondent: Bishops Tachbrook Parish Council

Natural Environment
The Parish Council does not agree that all reasonable options have been identified. Areas of restraint are not a sufficient instrument to adequately protect the environment. This is demonstrated by the ease with which the existing areas of restraint are being rubbed out by the Preferred Options Paper. They amount to window dressing and do not, in reality, offer any additional protection over Rural Area Polices. AORs need to have the same status as green belt. Further thought needs to be given to how protection to the natural landscape can be increased. Rural Area policies apply to all the real countryside. Greenbelt is an artificial measure to prevent conurbations joining where severe pressure for development would otherwise occur. But this makes real countryside ie from the south of Leamington to the Oxfordshire boundary less protected than greenbelt. Hence the current attack on greenfield by WDC in an attempt to satisfy unreasonable demands of the government.
As conservation is onerously rigorously enforced to old buildings, it also ought to be applied to landscapes and countryside in so far as development is concerned.
The proposed AOR north of Bishops Tachbrook must be extended to Harbury Lane to the north, to Europa Way to the west and to the Fosse Way to the East. It will be meaningless if it cannot be given the status of Green Belt. Existing AOR‟s should be respected and maintained. We do not support the Council‟s Preferred Option.

Object

Representation ID: 6964

Received: 25/09/2009

Respondent: Bishops Tachbrook Parish Council

Built Environment
The Parish Council does not agree that all reasonable options are identified. This part of the document has been written by someone that does not have the slightest idea as to what a high design standard is but think they have. Much of what is constructed in the area is „posh mediocrity‟. There are only a few examples of buildings in WDC that have got anywhere near a design quality that approaches a high level. There is one thing for certain and that is that high quality buildings and environments will not arise from controlling standards imposed on designers from planning authorities. Design requires imagination to solve problems, whether they be planning of layouts, visual impact studies, making things work or setting new trends. Unfortunately, much of what passes for design is little more than a fashion statement with a sell-by date tag firmly applied.
Developers are perhaps the worst offenders. They build what they can sell - not unreasonably perhaps, except that the developer predetermines what will sell and when it sells because the public have to be housed, he interprets that as being the right approach.
Good design is difficult to define. New work certainly has to respect the environment into which it is being inserted, providing that was good in the first place, which it frequently isn‟t. It should derive its form from its function and interplay light and shade, materials, textures, colour and proportions so that the first reaction to it is "that‟s good." It should reflect the era in which it was built and not try to mimic bygone styles however good they are or were. Because good design is difficult to define and „beauty is in the eye of the beholder‟, planning authorities should not presume that they can be the arbiter of taste for the community. Experiment will have to take place as it does in all walks of life and sometimes these will work and sometimes not so well, but competent designers and architects when employed on a project will generally provide something that will please the client, and consultation with informed community groups could well help the design.

Object

Representation ID: 6965

Received: 25/09/2009

Respondent: Bishops Tachbrook Parish Council

The preferred option does not give any indication of the form any framework would take. For that reason, we object to the Preferred Option.

Object

Representation ID: 6966

Received: 25/09/2009

Respondent: Bishops Tachbrook Parish Council

Sustainable Buildings
The use of BREEAM and other Regulatory required standards such as SAP ratings as part of the Building Regulation process will determine the energy ratings of new building and alteration works. As these standards increase due to European commission rules, planning authorities will have to accept new types of building construction and changes in visual appearance of buildings if zero carbon targets are to be met. Renewables in domestic situations are unlikely to give significant quantities of energy because the technology at present does not exist but authorities could fill that gap by initiating and facilitating larger initiatives such as hydropower from the Leam, ground-source heat pumps and industrial waste heat for district heating schemes. The Parish Council believes that all reasonable options have been identified.
However, the reduction target is far too low. Zero carbon should be the goal. Warwick District should set the highest achievable standard for the reduction in energy consumption based on technologies as they are developed It is far easier to reduce energy consumption in a new dwelling. But the biggest problem is the millions of existing buildings that are no where near any standard and there is no programme of retrofitting the necessary works to improve this. The core strategy is an opportunity to make a positive impact on climate change by identifying the poorest performers in the District and including them in a redevelopment programme of some sort compatible with the housing requirements of the RSS. For that reason, we object to the Preferred Option.

Object

Representation ID: 6967

Received: 25/09/2009

Respondent: Bishops Tachbrook Parish Council

Sustainable Buildings
The use of BREEAM and other Regulatory required standards such as SAP ratings as part of the Building Regulation process will determine the energy ratings of new building and alteration works. As these standards increase due to European commission rules, planning authorities will have to accept new types of building construction and changes in visual appearance of buildings if zero carbon targets are to be met. Renewables in domestic situations are unlikely to give significant quantities of energy because the technology at present does not exist but authorities could fill that gap by initiating and facilitating larger initiatives such as hydropower from the Leam, ground-source heat pumps and industrial waste heat for district heating schemes. The Parish Council believes that all reasonable options have been identified.
However, the reduction target is far too low. Zero carbon should be the goal. Warwick District should set the highest achievable standard for the reduction in energy consumption based on technologies as they are developed It is far easier to reduce energy consumption in a new dwelling. But the biggest problem is the millions of existing buildings that are no where near any standard and there is no programme of retrofitting the necessary works to improve this. The core strategy is an opportunity to make a positive impact on climate change by identifying the poorest performers in the District and including them in a redevelopment programme of some sort compatible with the housing requirements of the RSS. For that reason, we object to the Preferred Option.