Revealed: Swathes of green belt to be lost under new 25,000 homes planHuge swathes of green belt land in the city are set to be lost in Coventry.
Coventry’s draft ‘local plan’ has been published by the council today and reveals proposals for 25,000 homes by 2031.
It includes 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.
The plans mean 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.
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 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.
Housing plans across Coventry and Warwickshire aim to accommodate 88,160 homes across the region.
Asked if the numbers seemed extreme, Coun Kevin Maton, the council’s cabinet member for business, said they were based primarily on data from the Office of National Statistics.
He added: “You can challenge the numbers, but history would seem to indicate that the city’s population of 330,000 is growing.
“People can say we shouldn’t let anyone else in, but the people we would be kicking out are their children, their friends and their relatives.
“It’s effectively saying ‘I don’t want what I have got to be available to others’.”
He added that if population growth did not increase as expected between now and 2031 the figures could be revised.
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.
The council 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.
Coun Maton insisted the erosion of green belt on the boundary wouldn’t have a significant impact.
He said: “There is no development that goes any further West towards Birmingham than is currently the case.
“We are building on the green belt, but the driver for that is this huge current housing need.”
The plans will be subject to public consultation between January 18 and February 29 for comments and feedback.
A series of public meetings and drop-in sessions have also been planned across the city.
The final plan will be submitted to government inspectors at the end of March and will then be subject to a full public inquiry which is likely to be held in the summer.
If adopted, the plan will come into force from late 2016.