Set more realistic objectives

It appears to me and many other local people that the district council (and county council) has not given full consideration to numerous threatening consequences of building so many new houses in the south of Warwick. My concerns and objections are as follows:

Traffic and traffic congestion

Inevitably, 4,500 new homes will add to the already heavily congested roads in and around Warwick Town and Leamington. The increase in traffic will cause longer delays to the flow of traffic, especially at key times in the morning and evening, further slowing down the speed of traffic along key roads in and around Warwick town and Leamington. The pressure on these roads is already vast as these roads are already heavily congested and as the increase in the volume in of new houses will only add to the misery of local commuters and residents. I understand that there are plans to make lane alterations in Banbury Road and Myton Road to ease the anticipated congestion. Yet, what evidence is there that this will work and at a vast financial cost to tax payers.

Environment and pollution

In addition, as you all know, we live in a car-dependent age and 4,500 new homes and home-owners/occupiers, who no doubt will all have access to a car, will travel by car to commute to work, take children to school, etc and will add to the already polluted environment in and around Warwick town. Many of the town centre streets are in the ‘ Air Quality Management Area’ and my understanding is that the council is required by law to reduce the pollution from car/van and lorry exhausts.

Building these additional houses, together with the additional traffic and emissions, will be badly damaging to the health of local people, especially children, the elderly and those whose health may worsen owing to already long-standing health conditions. As councillors for Warwick town and district south and with the majority of votes out of all the parties, I would expect you all to be mindful of this and the already illegal levels of pollution affecting Warwick. Implementing the proposals of the Local Plan will no doubt exacerbate the illegal levels of pollution.

The pollution levels are not just affecting the health of individuals, but also are have damaging effects on the historic buildings of Warwick which are tourist attractions for many people. Local streets will be filled with intolerable levels of traffic and fumes which may put people off visiting our beautiful town.

Notwithstanding the aforementioned, is the environmental impact on Warwickshire per se. There are already environmental concerns about the marked effect of HS2. If the Local Plan also goes ahead, then we are facing a possible environmental tsunami for our local wildlife and ecosystem, not forgetting the loss of farmland and the consequences of this for our local farmers.

Local Infrastructure

The effects of the Local Plan, if implemented, raise serious concerns as to how the local infrastructure will cope with the quantity of houses (and the number of people) being proposed. There is already a lot of pressure on many of the key local services (education, healthcare, transport, water and sewage supplies, leisure, work) in and around Warwick (and Leamington). How sustainable will this infrastructure be if the Local Plan goes ahead? So what is a reasonable Local Plan for Warwick District?

1) Consider the population growth in the district and set the level of new house building at a realistic level that meets the population needs as per town council figures (births, deaths, etc.). It is my understanding that these figures are very accurate.

2) Spread any new housing more widely so that new houses are not solely concentrated in the south of Warwick.

3) Use ‘brownfield’ land and not green belt/open land space.

4) Avoid ‘commuting travelling’ as much as possible. Therefore, focus on house building close to work, schools, etc.

5) Give serious consideration to the sustainability of the current infrastructure.

Jacqueline D’Arcy, Warwick