Much-loved Coventry green space to become 54 homes in 'massive loss to community'

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Much-loved Coventry green space to become 54 homes in 'massive loss to community'

Postby dutchman » Fri Jul 22, 2022 8:38 pm

Cllr Rachel Lancaster said "every square inch of Holbrooks" has been developed

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A much-loved green space in Coventry will be turned into homes in what has been branded a "massive loss to the community." Cllr Rachel Lancaster said she was "disappointed" by a decision of the council's Planning Committee to give the houses the green light on Thursday (July 21).

The 54 homes, all affordable, will be built on land at Meadow Road which was used as private allotments until 2018. Cllr Lancaster told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that it was "like a green lung being removed" for the residents.

"We do need social housing, but it seems to me that every square inch of Holbrooks has been built on. We have had enough," she said.

"Knowing the area so well and knowing the ecological diversity on the site, it's a massive loss to the community."

As the houses are 100 per cent affordable, there will be no Section 106 money, which she added is "a blow". She said: "People can't get (GP) appointments. I just don't know where all the people are going to fit."

"Obviously there's an issue with climate change [and] these small areas are vital," she added.

More than 200 people signed a petition against the plans, which described the area as a "haven for wildlife" inhabited by frogs, toads, newts and bats.

Residents also fear the homes will cause parking, traffic, noise, overlooking and flooding problems. 27 people wrote letters of objection. But Coventry City Council officers recommended that the plans be approved.

In a report before the meeting, case officer Emma Spandley wrote that the loss of the green land was "acceptable subject to suitable mitigation".

She added that a "biodiversity package" will be submitted by developers in writing and approved, and nearby wildlife sites will be made more publicly accessible. Parking provision is acceptable and the council's Highways team consider it acceptably safe, as long as it meets certain conditions, her report said.

Daniel Barnes, of Orbit Group which is co-delivering the housing scheme, told the meeting that the homes are "much-needed" and "once developed would offer a variety of houses for social rent and with shared ownership tenures".

After a debate the Planning Committee voted on the scheme, with three councillors opposing the plans and five in favour.

Summing up, the chairman of the Committee, Cllr Lindsley Harvard, said: "There are some objections to this on roads and so forth, but on the other hand there are many affordable, as in social housing units, on this and we've got a lot of people on the housing waiting list. So it's a balance."

As of June 17, there were 5,418 households with an application on Coventry Homefinder, the lettings social housing register for the city.

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Re: Much-loved Coventry green space to become 54 homes in 'massive loss to community'

Postby dutchman » Mon Jan 30, 2023 4:30 pm

Coventry residents devastated after trees chopped down for homes

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Coventry residents are devastated at the loss of trees on an old allotments site that is being turned into homes. Thirty individual trees, six groups of trees and a hedgerow are being cleared from land in Holbrooks to make way for 54 affordable houses.

Two houses have also been knocked down to provide access to the new estate which is bounded by Meadow Road and Houldsworth Crescent. A survey with the plans said most of the trees being removed are only "low quality" and their loss is unavoidable.

But people living in the area claim the trees were healthy and established and provided habitats for wildlife. Bentley Court resident Yvette Peake said she is "so upset about the new build at allotments."

Posting in a Facebook community group she said: "All ash trees, silver birch, all the old oaks and many others .are all chopped down. They had families in them hawks owls squirrels now no more all gone."

Darren Vel Satis, who lives on a road nearby, believes that twelve of the poplar trees that were chopped down could have been 60 years old. "They don't look much now, but in summer they were a huge wall of green leaves dancing in the sun," he told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS.)

"They are not low grade trees at all, the stumps show healthy trees." He said he is disappointed to see the trees go and claimed they were not in the way and could have played a role in the new estate.

He said: "The houses at the bottom of the development would surely benefit from facing the trees. It's understandable that large trees cast a shadow, but they are also a great provider of cooling, and they help reduce flooding. The poplars around here provide habitat for starlings and it's fantastic to hear them in the tree tops."

He added: "We simply don't do enough to support nature, poplars are perfect for bats as they have crevices. I'm disappointed at the loss of the trees, its not the guys with the chainsaws fault, someone has made the decision to lose these trees.

"Its a loss to me personally as I can no longer see them from my window. The loss to nature is great, it's impossible to replace a 60 year old tree."

Bat boxes in the new homes aren't enough to replace the lost habitat, he said. Others on social media also voiced their concerns.

"Another wildlife haven destroyed," said one commenter. "What is happening around here to all our greenbelt and ancient green spots is criminal," added another.

It comes weeks after Coventry City Council adopted a new tree strategy for the city which stressed the value of trees for wellbeing in urban areas. The strategy's foreword states: "Trees are great for people's health and well-being and for bringing people together," and "trees are important in our efforts to combat climate change capturing CO2 and releasing oxygen."

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Re: Much-loved Coventry green space to become 54 homes in 'massive loss to community'

Postby dutchman » Mon Jan 30, 2023 4:31 pm

Meanwhile, there are brownfield sites all over Coventry which no one would ever miss! :roll:
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Re: Much-loved Coventry green space to become 54 homes in 'massive loss to community'

Postby rebbonk » Mon Jan 30, 2023 8:44 pm

Comment from Ms Lancaster? :lol:
Of course it'll fit; you just need a bigger hammer.
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