Revised Development Strategy

Object

Representation ID: 55463

Received: 26/07/2013

Respondent: Kenilworth Golf Club & Lands Improvement Holdings

Agent: Indigo Planning Ltd

The allocation of a single site within Kenilworth is insufficient to provide the flexibility required in the Local Plan to adapt to rapid change throughout its lifetime. SHMA (March 2012) identified 2,070 dwellings in Kenilworth and current proposal of 700 dwellings is significantly short of the required level and should be increased to meet the assessed need. There is a significant reliance on windfall sites.

The proposed focus of new housing allocations at land south of Warwick and south of Leamington Spa will not adequately meet the identified need for future housing growth in Kenilworth and is not considered to be a sustainable distribution of development.

The Council has identified that the Thickthorn site is a suitable location for the proposed housing growth. Concerned about the deliverability, suitability and achievability of this site. Council accepts that the other potential locations are less suitable for housing development.

The Kenilworth Golf Club site has already been identified by the Council as a potentially suitable site to accommodate housing growth in the 2012 SHLAA.
To address the shortfall in housing provision in Kenilworth, the Golf Club site should be allocated for housing. It can comfortably accommodate 750 to 1,250 units, together with other related uses.

Even if the Golf Club site is not allocated now, the site should be released from the Green Belt and safeguarded for future housing development. Currently serves a limited Green Belt function or purpose which will be further eroded by the route of HS2.

RDS and earlier Council documents do not mention the route of HS2, which passes north east of Kenilworth. The proposed route of HS2 will run directly north of the Golf Club site. It will undoubtedly alter the character and landscape of north-east of the town around the Golf Club and reinforces the site's suitability for development for housing and as an allocated development site for the town.

The Golf Club site would provide a suitable location for employment provision, particularly as a potential buffer zone to the HS2 route as part of a comprehensive masterplan.