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 rebbonk » Tue Dec 18, 2018 7:15 pm

Smells a little, doesn't it?
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 Mar 11, 2019 9:10 pm

Plans submitted for 500 more homes on ex-green belt land in Keresley, Coventry

Image

PLANS for up to 500 more homes in Keresley in Coventry have been submitted amid concerns from green belt campaigners.

Keresley is earmarked for several housing developments outlined in Coventry City Council’s Local Plan, amounting to more than 3,000 new homes.

An outline planning application for the homes has now been submitted by Lioncourt Strategic Land for Thompsons Farm, Thompsons Road, Keresley End.

The site – about the size of 30 football pitches – was protected green belt land but has now been declassified in the Local Plan, which claims to outline a need for 42,400 homes to be built in and around the city by 2031.

The plans would involve the demolition of Thompsons Cottage and the surrounding buildings.

They also include ‘green infrastructure’ – including landscaping and play spaces – as well as a network of pedestrian and cycle routes.

A proposal for 550 homes in Keresley on nearby Tamworth Road and Fivefield Road has been objected to by the NHS, the Warwickshire Wildlife Trust and the Woodland Trust – while Highways England has expressed some concerns.

Campaigner Peter Maddock says concerns about adding to the strain on the health service, traffic problems and environmental damage could be raised about the latest development which he describes as not having ‘adequate infrastructure planning’.

Fellow campaigner Sandra Camwell joined others including opposition Conservative councillors in calling for a review of housing plans in the area.

She said: “The developers are like vultures circling around a carcass.

“The council has got it totally wrong. We should have a review.

“The whole objection for Keresley is that the infrastructure is not in place.

“The roads are not adequate and they’re not equipped to take on more traffic.”

She also said the Victorian sewage pipework cannot support any more houses and fears lives will be lost due to the extra pressure all the developments will place on the NHS.

We have contacted Coventry City Council to comment.

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 » Mon Mar 11, 2019 10:34 pm

I thought I read that the local plan was flawed and was going to be reviewed?

But the question that hasn't been answered to my satisfaction is why we need homes at this rate. The local infrastructure isn't being beefed up to cope with it, so we're just adding to our already known problems.

Of course, the elephant in the room is uncontrolled immigration and the overcrowding it is causing.
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 » Sun Mar 24, 2019 6:47 pm

Councillor claims Coventry needs EVEN MORE homes - despite campaigners' challenges

Image

THE COUNCIL says there could be even more new homes than currently planned after latest official statistics – despite research refuting a population explosion in Coventry.

Latest Office of National Statistics (ONS) data claims both the city’s projected population growth AND the need for new homes has increased once more.

Coventry City Council cabinet member for housing, Councillor Ed Ruane, has warned residents to expect more developments on top of the 42,400 planned in the council’s controversial Local Plan, which was based on 2012 figures.

Coun Ruane said the Local Plan figures for Coventry’s housebuilding up to 2031 – based on the offical population growth estimates – are a ‘minimum baseline’.

He told Tuesday’s full council meeting – in a written answer – that the latest ONS figures show an increased housing need in Coventry, equating to 2,100 more homes.

It is unclear whether the latest figures include the same disputed methodology and population data used in the ONS’ previous projections.

As we reported, green belt campaigners and residents say ONS data is grossly overestimating Coventry’s future population growth. They point to local data for birth rates in Coventry, schools entrance figures, benefits claims and more.

Campaigner Merle Gering (pictured above) has said ‘ghosts and vampires’ – people supposedly moving to or being born in Coventry – are showing no footprints on any regional statistics that would suggest a rising population.

He says the need for housing in Coventry has been vastly overstated and the city needs thousands fewer than planned.

Mr Gering suggests the true number of houses needed is closer to 18,600.

Council leaders have repeatedly said extra Council Tax revenue from more homes could be spent on council services, and they aspire for population growth to make Coventry a ‘top ten city’.

Coventry’s Local Plan, approved in December 2017, is based on figures from the 2012 ONS sub-national population projections and mid-year estimates.

The Local Plan states there is a projected increase of about 90,000 people from 337,000 between 2011 and 2031 – a rise of nearly a third.

This is forecast to be twice as fast as Birmingham and Rugby, and three times as fast as neighbouring Warwick and Solihull.

It represents the highest predicted growth outside London, campaigners say.

They also say it fails to account for departing graduates despite the student population explosion – and the types of homes needed to cater for real demand.

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 » Fri Sep 27, 2019 4:37 pm

Save Our Green Belt Walk for Coventry to focus on children and wildlife - as 3,000 sign petition

Image

A SAVE Our Green Belt Walk is set to step up the fight against 13,000 new homes being built around Coventry on green land – amid the backdrop of ‘climate emergency’.

Pupils from Cardinal Newman school in Keresley are set to join in the protest, and more than 3,000 people have now signed a petition.

It calls for the return of threatened land to protected Green belt status, and an urgent review of the city’s housebuilding plans.

The ‘one hour easy walk’ next Sunday (October 6) will take campaigners and residents over ‘historic and beautiful Keresley – Shakespeare’s Forest of Arden’.

It aims to demonstrate what would be lost – from ancient woodland to the site where rare medieval coins were discovered, to the one of the best wildlife ponds left in Coventry.

Keresley sees the breeding of 13 birds of “particular interest” to Natural England, while others pass through, the campaign literature states.

Keresley, Eastern Green, Finham, Westwood Heath, Coundon Wedge, Exhall, and Cromwell Lane are among sites identified in Coventry’s Local Plan to help the city build 42,400 homes in and around the city by 2031.

Campaigners say the figures don’t stack up, claiming the methodology behind predictions for Coventry’s population growth is flawed.

They allegedly include mistaken assumptions concerning Coventry’s present and future student population.

Campaigners also argue there is no real evidence that Coventry will grow faster than almost anywhere else outside London.

All the homes needed can fit on brownfield, they maintain.

Future generations will need moderate priced homes, not ‘luxury homes’.

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 » Fri May 28, 2021 11:43 pm

Up to 500 homes approved in Coventry

Image

Another major plan for homes on former green belt land in Coventry has been approved.

Councillors voted in favour of outline permission for up to 500 homes on land at Thompsons Farm, Thompsons Road, Keresley, by five votes to one on Thursday (May 27).

The site forms part of the wider Keresley Sustainable Urban Extension (SUE) which has been allocated 3,100 homes in the council’s Local Plan in 2017.

As with the wider homes scheme, plans faced strong local opposition, with 91 letters of objection and concern from Keresley Parish Council and Transport for West Midlands (TfWM).

Bablake councillor Jaswant Singh Birdi branded it an “invasion of green belt” based on “flawed” population projections, with ward colleague Cllr Tarlochan Singh Jandu arguing there was “no need for these homes”.

He added: “The addition of dwellings can only make the situation worse and put tremendous pressure on existing services.

“If approved the development will have devastating impact on the local environment and no doubt contribute to climate change and potential increase in road traffic will be damaging.”

However, council planning officer Rob Back stated the review was “not a consideration of sufficient weight” and that recommendations to approve the scheme remain.

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 » Sat May 29, 2021 1:28 pm

Follow the money! :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 Jul 05, 2021 7:08 pm

Calls to release Coventry census data early in battle to protect 'precious greenbelt'

Image

Campaigners have called for the early release of Coventry’s census population figures, calling it the “obvious way” to clarify fears homes have been built on ‘flawed data’.

Questions have long been asked of the Office for National Statistics (ONS) population forecasts for the city, which have been used as the basis for thousands of new homes.

Figures suggest a population growth of 31 per cent between 2011-2031, with the council believing it must accommodate 42,400 new homes and removing swathes of land from the green belt as a result.

Earlier this year, regulator the Office for Statistics Regulation said those forecasts “appear to be inconsistent with, and potentially higher, than local evidence suggests” amid claims figures have been overstated and not factored in departing university students.

The ONS is due to address a series of recommendations by the end of July, but campaigners have called for recent census data to be released earlier than the planned date of February 2022 to provide clarity on the actual population numbers.

It comes after ONS released new mid-2020 population estimates last week which said Coventry’s population rose in a year from 371,000 to 379,387, giving the city the biggest population rise (21.7 per cent) outside of London since 2010.

More widely across the UK, ONS estimates said the population grew by an estimated 0.4 per cent in the 12 months to June 2020, the lowest annual increase for two decades.

Latest population estimates have been branded “absurd” by campaigner Merle Gering with countryside charity Warwickshire CPRE, West Midlands Mayor Andy Street and a cross-party group of MPs including Taiwo Owatemi, Zarah Sultana, Jeremy Wright, Craig Tracey and Matt Western signing a letter urging the ONS to release census figures early.

Merle Gering, a member of charity Warwickshire CPRE, said: “Time after time if you see this kind of information you have to ask why is it happening. Where is the evidence for this?

“It just looks like a grand mistake. It is absurd.

“There’s an obvious way of resolving this through the census data. The ONS already has the information and I’m really sure they could look in their files and say ‘yes we have a preliminary result for Coventry’. They will know now pretty clearly what the population of Coventry is rather than making wild guesses.

“The reason we are upset about it is it has been used to justify grabbing countryside, the Forest of Arden landscape, which is one of the best remaining unspoilt pieces of Forest of Arden landscape in the county. We are losing something precious.”

Andy Street, the Mayor of the West Midlands, added: “It is still absolutely beyond me as to why neither the government nor Coventry City Council are stepping in to stop the needless destruction of greenbelt land in Coventry.

“We know homes are being built based on flawed data, but neither ministers nor councillors seem willing to take action. That’s why I have signed this letter calling on the ONS to release Coventry’s population data from the 2021 census, in the hope that we can further expose the madness that is going on in the city and force those who can to finally take action.

“The campaigners have my full support and I will continue to work with them to try and protect Coventry’s irreplaceable and precious greenbelt land.”

A spokesman for the ONS however has said they do not have plans to release the data to the public early.

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 Jul 06, 2021 12:55 am

Andy Street, [...] added: “It is still absolutely beyond me as to why neither the government nor Coventry City Council are stepping in to stop the needless destruction of greenbelt land in Coventry.
:hysterical:

Naive?
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 » Fri Oct 08, 2021 4:57 pm

Plans unveiled for hundreds of new homes close to 'sacred' Coventry beauty spot

Image

Hundreds of homes could be built on an area of land close to a popular spot for walkers and nature lovers.

Coventry City Council has launched a consultation on the plans, which could see 350 homes built off Browns Lane, close to Coundon Wedge.

A planning application is expected to be submitted later this year.

Read more planning application news here

The site borders Browns Lane, and also Coundon Wedge Drive, Wall Hill and Hawkes Mill Road.

But not everyone's happy with the idea.

The Coventry Society described Coundon Wedge as a 'sacred place' and accused the city council of 'sheer opportunism' in bringing the site forward for housing.

A spokesman for Coventry City Council said the proposed homes will be on the Browns Lane site, adding that there is a 30-year pledge not to build on Coundon Wedge, which is still in effect.

People are being invited to share their views on the proposals online on the council's consultation page.

The council spokesman said: “Browns Lane is an allocated housing site in the Coventry Local Plan. There has always been a plan for new homes here. In the local plan the site was identified for 475 new homes and now we are proposing 350 new homes.

“We are not building on any land that has not been identified for development since 1991 and we are fulfilling our 30 year pledge not to build on Coundon Wedge."

The application also includes a five acre site reserved for a residential or nursing home, roads to residential areas, drainage and landscape improvements.

The Coventry Society said they are disappointed in the council.

In a statement, a spokesman said: "The Coventry Society is disappointed that the City Council is bringing this land forward for development at this time.

"Coundon Wedge is a sacred place for the city and should be untouchable. This land was only released from the Green Belt to allow the expansion of Jaguar and it is sheer opportunism of the Council to try to sell this beautiful site for housing now."

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

PreviousNext

Return to News

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 10 guests

  • Ads