Sun Aug 28, 2016 4:19 pm
Plans for affordable homes to be built on green belt land approved
Developers have been granted permission to build affordable housing on green belt land on the outskirts of Coventry.
Plans for almost 50 homes to be built in Burbages Lane, Ash Green, were given outline approval by Nuneaton councillors on Tuesday evening, although many were reluctant to throw support behind a proposal which will cause the loss of some of the borough’s green belt.
Coun Keith Kondakor (Green, Weddington) said: “I have got a large number of issues with developing on green belt. We need to be building on green belt as the absolute last resort.”
But the council say it does not have a five-year supply of housing land available to meet the expected housing need and is therefore looking for developments that will help meet that.
This proposal is to build 47 properties, however at this time, only access to the site was considered as layout, scale, appearance and landscaping were specified as reserved matters.
Planning officers wrote in their recommendation for approval that the need for land ‘carries significant weight in favour of the application’ and that the development ‘would make a positive contribution towards meeting the identified housing need in the borough.’
A quarter of the properties built would be reserved as affordable homes with half available to rent and half available to buy.
Coun Tony Lloyd said: “I have sat on here for a long time and been on the council a while and we have always thought that there has to be special reasons for green belt land to be used.
“We keep using this ‘we do not have enough houses to get ourselves through five years’ excuse but that does not give a special reason why we should build on green belt land.
“I will stand by policies until we have changed them.”
Planning officers have explained that one of the areas of green belt land which would be used for this development is seen as ‘incidental to the green belt rather than providing a positive gain to it’ and the other has been used as garden land and left to become overgrown.
Jacqui Padbury, planning officer, said: “We wouldn’t have recommended approval on green belt if we hadn’t thought about this.”
Tue Sep 27, 2016 7:52 pm
‘Unelected’ West Midlands Combined Authority’s huge growth agenda ‘threatens more green belt’
THE ‘unelected’ West Midlands Combined Authority’s ‘growth at all costs’ agenda threatens more green belt, says the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England.
It follows the recently established West Midlands Land Commission, set up by the WMCA, calling for evidence this month on the availability of land for development in Greater Birmingham and Solihull, the Black Country, Coventry and Warwickshire.
Coventry Conservative opposition councillors are also concerned over the call to developers and other interested parties to provide evidence of the ‘costs and benefits of Green Belt land’ to ‘unlock land for development.’
CPRE in the West Midlands says it reflects a “growth at all costs’ approach that sees the Green Belt, areas of high quality landscape, nature conservation, tranquillity and the environment generally as barriers to development rather than valuable in their own right.”
It claims the proposals are based on the WMCA’s economic growth forecasts well beyond the government’s national expectations for the next two decades.
The CPRE adds: “These economic plans have been drawn up by organisations with a vested interest in growth, without any consultation with wider interests or the general public.
“They therefore cannot be relied upon to provide a balanced view of how the West Midlands should develop.”
Mark Sullivan of CPRE added: “The danger is that these proposals will flow through into local plans, and that by the time people start to object it will be too late to stop this juggernaut.
“The West Midlands Combined Authority is not an elected local authority responsible to voters, being made up of Council Leaders meeting together. It has set a timescale for submission of evidence which is so short (21 days, closing on 30 September) that few if any members of the public or local community organisations can meet it, even if they get to hear of the Commission.”
The announcement comes months after Coventry City Council announced plans to build over 5000 homes.
Councillors Julia Lepoidevin, Peter Male and Gary Ridley who represent Woodlands ward fear the review may lead to even more greenbelt land being “seized by developers in Coventry”.
Coun Ridley said: “I love Coventry and I want it to determine its own future – not be dictated to by Birmingham.”
The WMCA, whose chief executive is Coventry City Council chief executive Martin Reeves, says it aims to create 500,000 additional jobs and five per cent higher economic growth than the national average by 2030.
It claim that lack of land supply is constraining growth is contested by the CPRE, which points to brown field availability.
WMCA adds: “The role of the West Midlands Land Commission is to take a fresh look at matters affecting the West Midlands land supply.
“It will consider what measures could be initiated and undertaken to ensure an improved supply of developable land.
“The West Midlands Land Commission is independent, and is seeking to adopt an evidential and diagnostic approach.”
The Commission is expected to report back with its recommendations to the WMCA Board by the end of next year.
Tue Sep 27, 2016 9:43 pm
Wed Sep 28, 2016 9:31 am
Wed Sep 28, 2016 1:59 pm
Wed Sep 28, 2016 6:57 pm
Wed Sep 28, 2016 10:04 pm
flapdoodle wrote:Total nonsense.
Many employers say today’s university graduates don’t quite measure up. In survey after survey, they rate young applicants as deficient in such key workplace skills as written and oral communication, critical thinking and analytical reasoning.
Thu Sep 29, 2016 12:22 pm
Ah, it's all the EU's fault.
No it isn't. The EU doesn't run the UK, it's just an organisation that we're part of.
Any problems are all our own fault.
Thu Sep 29, 2016 12:34 pm
As a matter of fact, they do teach you to think for yourself at University, it's encouraged, and you generally don't get a good degree if you can't.
Tue Oct 11, 2016 9:40 pm
Greenbelt protest outside Coventry council house tomorrow before crucial hearing
A DEMONSTRATION against proposals to build homes on ‘up to 10 per cent’ of Coventry’s green belt will be staged outside the Council House tomorrow (Wednesday, October 12) ahead of a crucial hearing about the Local Plan.
Campaigners will gather at 9.15am, supported by Conservative opposition councillors.
They are calling on an independent planning inspector to throw out ruling Labour councillors’ draft Local Plan for development for the next 15 years, which identifies various Greenbelt sites around the city.
Labour councillors say Greenbelt release is needed to support the city’s forecast ongoing population growth – due to migration, people living longer and more people living alone, in line with national trends.
Labour-run Coventry City Council claims the growth will be led by new jobs and economic growth and has aspirations for Coventry to become a ‘top ten city’.
They also point to previous Conservative council proposals for similar increases of over 20,000 homes including in Greenbelt when the Tories were in power before 2010.
But the Tories say brownfield sites should be used first, and the unjustified early release of lucrative Greenbelt land is a ‘developers’ charter.’
The Local Plan proposes 5,000 new houses on the Greenbelt in Keresley, 2,000 on Greenbelt in Eastern Green, and warehousing and a retail centre ‘the size of Cannon Park’ at Eastern Green.
Coun Jaswant Birdi whose Bablake ward includes Keresley said: “These plans have been rushed through and these hearings could be the last chance that residents get to speak out.”
Other affected Green sites would be at Coundon Wedge, Cromwell Lane, and King’s Health near Finham and Broad Lane as housing ‘overspill’ just outside the city border.
Some residents’ groups and Conservative councillors from Woodlands, Westwood and Bablake wards, Peter Male, Gary Ridley and Julia Lepoidevin, will call on the planning inspector to reject the council’s proposals.
Westwood Conservative councillors David Skinner, Marcus Lapsa and Tim Mayer are calling for the Cromwell Lane proposal to be dropped, pointing to their own survey identifying traffic volume and speeding issues in Cromwell Lane and the Tile Hill Village.
Conservative group leader, Coun John Blundell, said: ‘This Local Plan is a developer’s charter – it treats freshly released Greenbelt land and Brownfield sites in the same way.
“It means the first day this plan is implemented we could see bulldozers on the Greenbelt while Brownfield sites are still available.”
Woodlands councillor Julia Lepoidevin said: ‘I’m deeply concerned about the impact this could have on local infrastructure and services.
“We’ve already seen problems with the A45/ Broad Lane roundabout. Imagine it with an extra 2,000 houses nearby.”