Controversial plans for more than 100 new homes at Baginton are approved by committee

A decision to allow 119 homes to be built on a former farm site in Baginton have prompted one councillor to wonder if residents will ever be able to trust decision-makers in the future.

Members of Warwick District Council’s planning committee approved plans to build 63 houses on the lower portion of Rosswood Farm, Coventry Road, when they met this week having previously approved 56 affordable houses on the other part of the plot.

Cllr Richard Dickson (Lib Dem, Kenilworth St John’s) said: “One of the issues is that this represents a 49 per cent increase over and above what was in the local plan.

"Since I’ve been on the planning committee I’ve not seen an oversupply of this scale as being described as windfall.

“ We are in the process of consulting on the South Warwickshire Local Plan and if we are asked to consider a 49 per cent oversupply against a plan I wonder how residents are ever going to be able to trust us.”

Baginton Parish Council chair Cllr Julie Keightley raised concerns about the impact the extra properties would have on the village.

She said: “Recommendations are for rural growth villages to expand by no more than ten per cent per decade to allow the character of the village to evolve at a controlled rate and to avoid sudden changes in demographics.

“Instead of limiting the growth to ten per cent, or 35 houses, the council decided 80 houses could be justified in the local plan.

"You are now being asked to approve an additional 50 per cent.”

She said that there were concerns that this would ‘permanently change the character of the village’.

She added: “The size of this development significantly outstrips the existing and planned infrastructure of schools and healthcare.

"Of particular concern is the lack of school places for the children of Baginton.”

The plans were approved albeit with a number of additional conditions including one calling for the applicant to demonstrate that there was safe cycle access to and through the site.

Andeep Gill, representing developers Seven Capital, said: “The applicant has proactively engaged with council officers in making numerous detailed design amendments to address concerns which have been raised through consultation.

"These include reducing the number of dwellings and providing the minimum separation distances and garden sizes, bringing forward more usable open space and landscaping, and strengthening the existing hedgerows around the site.”

He added that there had been no concerns raised by the NHS or county council in relation to school places and that the majority of more than £900,000 Section 106 money would go towards education services.