Coventry council leader branded ‘galling’ for objecting to Exhall business park and housing plan by Nuneaton Town Hall bossNuneaton and Beworth Borough Council’s leader has branded his Coventry counterpart as 'galling' for objecting to plans for a business park and houses in Exhall. Borough council leader councillor Kris Wilson said that had it not been for the local authority being forced to take overspill homes from Coventry, then the site in Wilsons Lane would not have been removed from the greenbelt – paving the way to make it acceptable for development.
Cllr Wilson said that the neighbouring city council has refused to look at their housing numbers – unlike the borough council which is reviewing its borough plan - and therefore the council is currently stuck having to take on 4,600 homes from the city council.
In the existing Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Plan, approved by an inspector, the site in Wilsons Lane was removed from the green belt so that the land could be used to help deal with the Coventry overspill.
With the Borough Plan approved, Cllr Wilson said that if they refused the application for more than 70 homes and a new business park in Exhall then it could go to appeal land be extremely costly. Cllr George Duggins, leader of Coventry City Council, objected to the proposals being given the go-ahead – something that riled Cllr Wilson.
“Yet again we have another application, where one of the objectors is George Duggins. Our housing figures were inflated because of the overspill from Coventry," Cllr Wilson said.
"He (councillor Duggins) is the one who refused to look at their own green belt before we had to use our own. I find it absolutely galling that he is telling us not to approve this.
“If we didn't have to put up with overspill, then sites like this may not have been in the Borough Plan. I know one in my area of Golf Drive may not have been.”
Cllr Wilson said because the land is in the Borough Plan and approved for a mix of housing and business, then it would be difficult for the council to justify rejecting the plan. Cllr Duggins was not the only one to object to the plan however, as petitions have been raised by local residents.
Both the Longford and Ash Green community groups were represented at the planning committee meeting at the Town Hall. The current plan for the erection of up to 73 dwellings and up to 55,750 sqm of employment/commercial floor space on land in Wilsons Lane is for outline permission only, which means further applications will have to be submitted to show finer details.
But Michael Fell, of the Longford community action group, said that the lack of detail, especially about the impact of car parking as well as the works on the nearby Longford roundabout should be explained as they are ‘fundamental’ to the application.
David Parr, committee member of the Ash Green residents association, also raised concerns about the development on the site and said: “In 100 years there will still be photographs of what we have lost, and they will say who are these environmental vandals? I hope it is not going to be the borough council."
Cllr Wilson said: “I completely understand what the residents are saying. My sympathies are entirely in line with them, but we are constrained by the findings of the most recent borough plan inspector."
Responding to Cllr Wilson's comments, George Duggins said: "My views are very simple; as a ward councillor I am entitled to object to proposals that impact on my ward and anyone who doesn't understand the role of a ward councillor is pretty politically immature.
"Some of the proposals are totally inappropriate and I, along with other Longford councillors, are entitled to express our opinion.
"And we are using green belt in our Local Plan. Where he gets the idea from that we haven't touched it I don't know. I've been in meetings and some of the people opposed to these proposals have been people from Nuneaton and Bedworth (Borough Council)."
The borough council is in the process of renewing its borough plan, which has been extended, but this review and any potential changes, cannot stop the current application. Following further debate, the outline planning application for Wilsons Lane was approved during the planning meeting at the Town Hall.