Coventry Gateway scheme is happening

Six months after councillors on Warwick District Council’s planning committee defered their decision on the proposed project near Coventry Airport - which developers claimed would create thousands of jobs for Warwick district people - on Wednesday, after another meeting lasting late into the night, they gave it their approval.

Speaking at Wednesday’s meeting, which took place at Leamington Town Hall, David Hill from the Coventry and Warwickshire Development Partnership, which is managing the £250 million scheme, said that the partnership had spent £2.5 million on the planning application alone, adding: “We are extremely committed to this scheme and have no doubt that, should planning permission be granted, that this will be a major financial project for this area.”

And speaking afterwards, the partnership sent a statement to the Courier that read: “We are obviously delighted that the Gateway was granted consent.

“A great deal of work has gone into the application and we believe the project will bring lasting benefits to the economy of Coventry and Warwickshire. We look forward to taking the scheme through the next phase of implementation.”

The decision was made after the district council had commissioned an investigation into the likely number of jobs the site would create, details on who would use the site and the travel benefits for Warwick district it would create. Property consultant GL Hearn ran a study into the jobs figures claim and concluded that the total number of jobs created directly by the scheme would be 8,210, 1,230 (15 per cent) of which would go to Warwick district people.

Council planning officer Rob Young had encouraged councillors to approve the partnership’s proposals, pointing out that GL Hearn’s findings were consistent with the partnership’s claim that between 6,500 and 10,500 jobs would be created - with a further 900 jobs predicted to be created during the construction of the development, expected to take three years.

While councillors deliberated over their decision on Wednesday, Cllr Alan Wilkinson described the situation as being “on a knife edge”, but he said: “Warwick District Council has an objective to make the district a good place to live and work and it needs to be able to demonstrate that by making it a place where it’s easy to do business.

“Fortunately, we are faced here with a development which, by its very nature, would be a welcome fit for new businesses.”

Campaigners had argued that the Beatty family, who live on farmland at the proposed site, would have to be forced to move from their home - but the family has since withdrawn their objection to the scheme.

Concerns had also been raised about the threat to the nearby Lunt Fort, but English Heritage, which manages the site, has also withdrawn its objection.

When the application was heard by the planning committee in December, the council had received 798 letters of objection - and only six letters in support of the scheme. A dedicated campaign group, Against the Gateway, had formed and several members spoke at Wednesday’s meeting, urging councillors to vote against the scheme. Bob Powell continued to cast doubt over the predicted jobs created for Warwick district people and Mark Symes said: “Business creates jobs, not developers. This is a speculative application. It is smoke and mirrors.”

But after hearing two hours’ worth of arguments for and against the scheme and a lengthy debate among councillors, Cllr Richard Brookes, before proposing that the committee vote in favour, said: “The only thing I regret about it all is that it has to be on green belt. The overall public good is what we have got to look at. On balance, the benefits do outweight the harm to the green belt.”

The scheme was granted by seven votes to three.

See next week’s Courier for more details on the arguments for and against the development.