Save Warwick from catastrophe

The 3,500-plus houses planned for Warwick constitute 43 per cent of the new Local Plan total, covering nearly all of the green space between the Banbury Road, Greys Mallory, Europa Way, Myton and the Technology Park. This would mean estates more than three times the size of Warwick Gates!
By The Newsroom
Published 9th Jun 2013, 08:51 BST

Development nearer Coventry or areas already allocated as employment land or with access to trunk roads or railways has been dismissed in favour of housing around south Warwick.

The highly dubious numbers exceed the county’s estimates of population growth and are far in excess of those proposed in the previous much-opposed Core Strategy.

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This scale of development will undoubtedly impact severely on the character of the town and the quality of life of existing residents, bringing with it horrendous problems with infrastructure provision.

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Infrastructure will not be in place before building commences, possibly not until completion, but Warwick District Council hopes that infrastructure will be provided from developers’ contributions whilst admitting that this may not raise enough to cover escalating costs of new roads, schools, extra health provision, policing, fire service, etc. Infrastructure needs will then be prioritised and some areas may miss out. Utilities such as water, sewers, electricity provision will have to be provided at escalating massive cost.

With an estimate of £75million needed to cover the infrastructure and only £55million available from CIL, can we really expect the developers or the county to come up with the rest? We are not given firm, costed evidence that the infrastructure can be delivered at all, only that there are “ongoing studies” and “further work needed”. History has shown the failure of such promises in past developments in Warwick.

The Traffic Assessment report states that “an obvious concern surrounding the implementation of this strategy is that this will result in an increase in the overall levels of traffic travelling through the town centre”. The traffic congestion that Warwick already suffers will probably be exacerbated by 8,000-plus extra cars.

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An opportunity to seek answers will be at the consultation meetings and the first of these is the Warwick Community Forum at 6.30pm on June 13 at Warwick Gates Community Centre. Please come along to listen to the details of the proposals and air your views.

It has been said that Warwick South are not too bothered so now is the time for us all to take action to save Warwick from this catastrophe.

Cllr Linda Bromley, Warwick district councillor

Related topics:Local Plan