Council clears the way for homes to be built on green belt

Local, national, international and oddball news stories

Re: Council clears the way for homes to be built on green belt

Postby dutchman » Sun Oct 16, 2016 3:53 pm

“No one will benefit from these additional houses” warns Keresley parish councillor

Image

A PARISH councillor has slammed proposals for thousands of houses to be built in Keresley Village following a protest outside the council house.

Speaking after Wednesday’s meeting with an independent planning inspector, Sandra Camwell told The Observer that the Council are treating Coventry “like legoland” and “building where they please”.

Her concerns have been raised after Labour councillors outlined their local plan for the city’s development in the next 15 years.

The plan identifies various green belt sites around the city, including plans to construct 5,000 new houses in Keresley, 2,000 houses in Eastern Green as well as warehousing and a retail centre the size of Cannon Park at Eastern Green.

Ms Camwell, who has lived in Coventry all her life, said the population of the city is being suffocated – and added the region’s services would not be able to cope with more houses.

She said: “Coventry is overpopulated with students, we’re all being suffocated.

“If they’re going to build housing then build it in an appropriate place – there are talks of introducing warehouses to Keresley, our roads are too small to cope with heavy construction vehicles.

“Labour are saying warehouses will create jobs, but these jobs won’t be well paid and the people working won’t be able to afford a mortgage.”

Wednesday’s meeting saw Conservative Councillors and supporting campaigners voice their concerns to an independent planning officer.

When questioned about who would benefit if plans go ahead, Ms Camwell answered with a straight “no one”.

She said: “No one will benefit should these plans go ahead, it will put more pressure on local services and increase congestion.

“They should consider building on brownfield sites before using green belt land.

“Residents have told me they’ve suffered from years of misery wondering what will happen to the green belt land.

“I was born and raised in Coventry and I’m a proud Coventrian – but I fear the city will lose its identity if these plans go ahead.”

Image
User avatar
dutchman
Site Admin
 
Posts: 50286
Joined: Fri Oct 23, 2009 1:24 am
Location: Spon End

Re: Council clears the way for homes to be built on green belt

Postby rebbonk » Sun Oct 16, 2016 4:34 pm

She said: “Coventry is overpopulated with students, we’re all being suffocated.


I agree that we're overpopulated and we're being suffocated, but I don't hold that students are the cause in this case. We are simply taking in too many people into a much too small area and our idiot council will continue to do so until we stop them.
Of course it'll fit; you just need a bigger hammer.
User avatar
rebbonk
 
Posts: 65579
Joined: Thu Nov 12, 2009 7:01 am

Re: Council clears the way for homes to be built on green belt

Postby rebbonk » Tue Oct 18, 2016 8:45 pm

There is nothing wrong with protecting what we have. :fuming:
Of course it'll fit; you just need a bigger hammer.
User avatar
rebbonk
 
Posts: 65579
Joined: Thu Nov 12, 2009 7:01 am

Re: Council clears the way for homes to be built on green belt

Postby dutchman » Mon Feb 27, 2017 2:54 am

Tory West Mids mayor candidate Andy Street has doubts over need for houses on Coventry green belt

Image

West Midlands mayor Conservative candidate Andy Street has expressed his concern over population growth estimates which have fuelled housing plans in Coventry and Warwickshire.

Former John Lewis boss Mr Street has indicated he has doubts over the figures which have led to Coventry and Warwickshire councils outlining how they would accommodate more than 88,000 homes in the sub-region by 2031.

Those proposals will mean swathes of green belt land in the city being lost - with an estimated 10 per cent of protected land in Coventry set to be handed over to developers under the city’s local plan.

Coventry is forecast to need 25,000 new homes under estimated population figures based in part on analysis of data by the Office for National Statistics.

But Mr Street has indicated his belief that the formula for calculating housing need could be flawed.

He said: “Coventry, Birmingham and the Black Country have exactly the same question about the legitimacy of those figures.

“One of the first thing that has to be done is to get everyone to align behind the same numbers and I would want the combined authority to do that.”

Asked if he had his own doubts, Mr Street said: “I can’t judge the numbers. But the very fact everyone is not aligned behind them is itself unsatisfactory.

“How on earth are you going to solve the problem if we haven’t identified it in a common way? That’s what we have got to do.

“My doubt comes from not getting all the experts in the same place.”

In Coventry, the Labour controlled council has drawn up a local plan which they say focuses on protecting green belt - with 17,000 of the 25,000 planned homes in the city designated for brown field sites.

But Mr Street says he believes there is a way of protecting more of the green land.

He said: “We can’t say that green belt in Coventry can be protected permanently. But before we even think about using it for housing, we need to exhaust every other avenue. And there are plenty of other avenues.

“First, we need to get these brown field sites back into use and quickly. This can be done by securing the funding necessary to reclaim lands that may be contaminated.

“We also need to turn our attention to the 10,000 homes in the region that are currently unoccupied. We need to put more energy into this process and bring them back into use.

“We need to think harder also about the density of our housing, particularly in the towns and cities where the essential infrastructure already exists.”

Mr Street said there would always be exceptions to the rules over the benefits of developing green belt - pointing towards the expansion of Jaguar Land Rover on green belt land in the south of the city.

He said: “If you look at the JLR planning application at Whitley, we have got to be realistic about that.

“But this is about saying there are a lot of brown field sites across the West Midlands that have not been developed and we have got to, not just talk about it, but genuinely make this happen.”

Image
User avatar
dutchman
Site Admin
 
Posts: 50286
Joined: Fri Oct 23, 2009 1:24 am
Location: Spon End

Re: Council clears the way for homes to be built on green belt

Postby dutchman » Thu Mar 02, 2017 11:23 am

The green, green grass for homes - thousands of new houses to be built on Coventry fields

Image

Plans for thousands of new homes on green belt land in Coventry have moved a step closer after council plans were given the nod by government.

Despite hundreds of objections from residents, the council’s Local Plan - which allocates areas of land for development between now and 2031 - has been signed off by a government planning inspector who made only minor alterations.

As well as allocating land for industrial use, the proposals identify where the council suggests 25,000 homes should be built - and 8,000 of those homes would fall on land currently designated as green belt.

But Conservatives who oppose green belt development say the plans have been based on “alternative facts” and “erroneous projections about population growth” post-Brexit.

Plans include more than 3,100 homes on green belt land around Keresley, along with an additional 2,250 houses on the Windmill Village Hotel’s golf course and surrounding area next to the A45 in Eastern Green.

An estimated 10 per cent of the city’s 3,000 hectares of protected green belt land would lose that status and become prime construction land, while a total of 17,000 homes are allocated to existing brown field sites.

Proposals also include 900 homes in Walsgrave, next to the M6; 1,400 across Foleshill and Holbrooks; 475 in Bablake; 285 in Longford; and about 250 around Tile Hill Railway Station.

Only minor boundary and technical changes have been made to the plans by the government inspector.

There was some additional strengthening of areas such as road plans, flooding risk and drainage plans.

The north west of the city is set to bear the brunt of planned development with roughly 30 hectares of green belt land in the area earmarked to be converted into employment land - on top of the major housing projects.

More specific proposals will be drawn up for the areas if the local plan is signed off, but initial suggestions are that a major new supermarket complex the size of Cannon Park and a new primary school could be built in the Eastern Green area.

There are also discussions about opening up Pickford Brook, which runs through the area, and making it a feature which runs all the way to the city centre.

Keresley could expect to get more shops as well as new primary and secondary schools. Plans also include protecting existing ancient woodlands and hedgerows.

Predicted housing numbers in Keresley would more than quadruple the size of the area which had a population of just 713 according to the latest census.

But council officials insist major infrastructure improvements would be made to deal with additional traffic, and plans include linking Keresley to the M6.

The council also wants to re-label thousands of acres of existing green belt land as ‘green space’ - something it says would grant the land the same level of protection from development as green belt status.

It says it is a technical change because the effected land sits away from the boundary and doesn’t serve the purpose of green belt - to prevent urban sprawl.

Conservative councillors say the planning inspector’s decision means bulldozers could move onto green belt land “within months”.

They have also questioned whether population growth figures will remain accurate post-Brexit - suggesting as much as 95 per cent of Coventry’s population growth is caused by immigration.

Cllr Julia Lepoidevin said: “We’re deeply concerned by this decision and we’ll study the 300 page document carefully. This entire process has been developer-led from the start and we seem to be rushing to develop greenbelt land based on half-truths and alternative facts.

“Much of the ‘evidence’ presented to the inquiry was based on erroneous projections about population growth. It’s also based on a real optimism about the ability of existing infrastructure to cope with these changes.”

The new proposals are due to be signed off for public consultaion by the council’s cabinet on March 7 and then given final approval at a public full council meeting on March 14.

If approved, the final consultation period on the Local Plan will run from Wednesday March 15 to Friday, April 28.

Image
User avatar
dutchman
Site Admin
 
Posts: 50286
Joined: Fri Oct 23, 2009 1:24 am
Location: Spon End

Re: Council clears the way for homes to be built on green belt

Postby Melisandre » Thu Mar 02, 2017 1:19 pm

So where are all these jobs and being able to afford these homes coming from to warrent all these homes being built when soon 40 per cent of robots will be taking jobs away from people also the road infrastructure on our roads plus the strain on the NHS hospital doctors schools also with polution yet they continue to cut services along with government allowing car insurance to go up which will affect dramatically peoples pockets and low wage people traveling to get to work then this

https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... rty-budget

I question does CCC do their home work are they fit to rule or are they getting ready to remain in the EU taking immigrant quoters or free movement to have the free trade after all the government did say prior to Britex they would need more time to build and build infrastuction to take in so many. Or is it the the mighty men who control the government who wants the one world religion one world money and free movement for a form of slavery plan after all France did say recently the plan has nt worked.
User avatar
Melisandre
 
Posts: 14096
Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2015 8:52 am

Re: Council clears the way for homes to be built on green belt

Postby dutchman » Tue Mar 14, 2017 8:46 pm

Local Plan for homes on Green Belt gets nod but will 'set Coventry in concrete'

Image

COVENTRY’S Local Plan to build 25,000 homes including on large swathes of green belt has been backed by Labour councillors today.

The Labour majority voted down Conservative opposition amendments, with Tory councillor Gary Ridley warning the city would be “set in concrete”.

But Labour councillors including former council leader John Mutton, now cabinet member for finance, hit back.

He accused the Tories of hypocrisy, saying the city’s Conservatives had similar plans for the green belt and housing targets when in power at the Council House before 2010.

Tory councillors say those numbers were forced on them by Gordon Brown’s former Labour government until the coalition scrapped the former region-wide plans, called Regional Spatial Strategies.

The Labour council in 2010 under Coun Mutton had pledged to voters it would not build on any green belt or green fields, and had in 2012 proposed just 12,000 new homes.

But the government appointed a planning inspector who ordered Coventry City Council to work more closely with neighbouring authorities to take on more of the region’s housing demand.

Public opposition has been particularly vocal against plans for 8,000 homes in the green belt at various locations, especially at Keresley and Eastern Green.

The plans will no undergo a final consultation period until next month.

The Local Plan allocates land for development for housing, employment and other uses up until 2031.

The Tory opposition has called it a ‘developers’ charter’, and urged brownfield to be used first, pending a review of forecasts for immigration into Coventry and Warwickshire and the sub-region’s population growth, especially given the UK is leaving the European Union.

A government inspector this month made only minor alterations to Coventry’s Local Plan.

The Tories in government had pledged under a so-called ‘localism’ agenda to allow councils to make their own decisions where possible, although there has been a degree of government intervention.

More than 2,000 homes have been allocated for Windmill Village Hotel’s golf course and nearby land around the A45.

Tories say the plans threaten the ‘Meriden Gap’ and could be the start of bringing Coventry and Birmingham closer together.

Other housing sites are at Bablake, Foleshill, Holbrooks, Longford and Tile Hill.

Labour councillors including Kevin Maton have long claimed only 10 per cent of the city’s Greenbelt could be used, as they plan for population growth taking the city to more than 400,000 inhabitants.

But major job creation schemes which were to create more than 30,000 jobs – to support housing development – have experienced major setbacks.

They include the Friargate business development around Coventry station and former plans for a manufacturing and warehouse park around Coventry Airport. Jaguar Land Rover now has plans for expansion and manufacturing.

Coventry and Warwickshire councils have had to find space for 88,000 homes and some of green belt land just across the border has been earmarked by other councils.

Image
User avatar
dutchman
Site Admin
 
Posts: 50286
Joined: Fri Oct 23, 2009 1:24 am
Location: Spon End

Re: Council clears the way for homes to be built on green belt

Postby dutchman » Tue Mar 14, 2017 8:51 pm

Security called to council green belt meeting as emotions boil over

Image

Security were called in as emotions boiled over during a heated council debate over plans to build thousands of homes on green belt land in Coventry.

Members of the public were put under the watchful eye of security staff after repeated interruptions from the gallery during a full council meeting at Coventry Council House on Tuesday when the Local Plan was discussed.

During the debate UKIP member Tony Middleton could be heard shouting from the gallery after the Lord Mayor warned the public they must refrain from heckling.

Mr Middleton said: “What do you expect? You haven’t listened to us for 20 years!”

That prompted the arrival of security, although this was seen as heavy handed by fellow UKIP member Mark Taylor who used social media to vent his frustration.

He said: “Shocking that we now have security sitting here in the gallery. Are we residents really a threat by being slightly vocal?”

Conservative Cllr Gary Ridley said: “This plan has been developer-led from day one. Brown field sites will sit empty while the green belt is decimated.”

He added: “It’s the beginning of the end of the Meriden Gap, there will be urban sprawl from Wolverhampton to Willenhall.”

The proposals hit the northern area of the city hardest and independent Bablake Cllr Glenn Williams suggested he would take drastic measures to avoid losing green belt around Keresley and Coundon Wedge.

He said: “I am willing to chain myself to bulldozers to protect the green belt.

“I believe there are some in this chamber who would lie down next to me, but there are probably some that would gladly drive the bulldozers too.”

Image
User avatar
dutchman
Site Admin
 
Posts: 50286
Joined: Fri Oct 23, 2009 1:24 am
Location: Spon End

Re: Council clears the way for homes to be built on green belt

Postby rebbonk » Tue Mar 14, 2017 9:41 pm

Once again, the excrement that passes as a council has done the dirty on the electorate. :fuming:
Of course it'll fit; you just need a bigger hammer.
User avatar
rebbonk
 
Posts: 65579
Joined: Thu Nov 12, 2009 7:01 am

Re: Council clears the way for homes to be built on green belt

Postby Melisandre » Tue Mar 14, 2017 9:52 pm

So in truth a Labour run council does nt believe in democracy they are dictators seems its been their plan all along all planned along with joining Birmingham .

So where is our fresh air going to come from as not many months ago the council stated in the Coventry Telegraph we were breathing in toxic fumes from the traffic yet they persist on creating more vehicles through building more houses typical council the left hand does nt know what the right hand is doing per usual.

So if there is a war how would we grow our own food as we import most food now and if they do a deal with America on their crops for us we will need extra money put into the NHS as their crops have pesticides which are banned in Europe and cause the bees to forget how to get back to their hives .
User avatar
Melisandre
 
Posts: 14096
Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2015 8:52 am

PreviousNext

Return to News

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 10 guests

  • Ads