'Brownfield first' campaigner stands for Coventry council elections

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Coventry people want ‘homes they can afford’ – says independent candidate Merle Gering as he launches his council election manifesto.



Mr Gering – a passionate environmental campaigner – will be running in the local elections on May 5 for Sherbourne ward.

He will stand on a ‘brownfield first’ platform with the purpose of “giving people a vote on green belt and the local plan”.

Mr Gering accuses the present Coventry City Council of failing to address the need for affordable housing in the city.

He says it is focusing instead on putting ‘thousands’ of luxury homes in the green belt, doing little to provide low-cost homes to rent and buy.

Mr Gering said: “I am angry and fed up with the way officials and councilors ignore what local people want.

“When asked last year, 80 per cent of local people opposed the local plan and building on greenbelt, but it went through anyway.

“While one in four children live in deprived families, and one in seven families are in fuel poverty, the council should not be focusing on luxury homes.

“You would expect a Labour council to do everything possible to ease poverty but not so.

“Councillors obsess about making Coventry into a ‘Top Ten’ city, rather than dealing with real problems.

“Ironically many of the grand homes planned will be outside the city, so the extra council taxes won’t go to Coventry.”

He insisted people should vote for him to protect the green belt and get more low-cost homes built.

He pledged to reject plans for homes on Green Belt in Keresley, Eastern Green, and Kings Hill.

He has also called into question the validity of figures used to justify housebuilding on the green belt – saying the evidence used by the council is ‘appalling’.

Mr Gering said: “Can anyone believe that Coventry is going to grow twice as fast as Birmingham or Solihull, three times as fast as Warwick, and four times as fast as Stratford-upon-Avon, as the council claim … apart from blinkered councilors and avaricious property developers?

“I want an immediate review of the new local plan because it is based on completely unreliable and implausible numbers.

“On any reasonable estimate of future growth, Merle argues that we can build all the houses needed on brownfield, and keep our beautiful countryside.”

Meanwhile, he says the city is investing millions in “risky” commercial ventures, like Friargate.

He also criticises excessive numbers of students in some neighbourhoods saying that other councils – including Warwick – limit the number of family homes that can be converted into student houses in an area -to reduce noise and nuisance.

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Council 'challenged to a duel' by green belt protesters dressed as musketeers



Coventry City Council were challenged to a duel by a group of green belt protesters in an eye-catching rally.

The group, who have named themselves the Four Musketeers, want the council to protect the green belt site by building on the city's brownfield land first.

The four members staged a protest outside the Council House last Friday, dressed in historic costumes.

Dr Walter Milner, one of the Four Musketeers protesters said the group wanted to challenge the council about the numbers behind plans to build new homes on the green belt - but it declined their offer to 'duel'.

The group are campaigning for homes on brownfield land to be built first - in the hope that a recalculation of housing demand will prove greenbelt land is not needed.

Dr Milner said: "We simply request that the Local Plan is ‘phased’.

"That means that building on green land is not allowed until after all brownfield sites have been used and housing demand remains.

"We argue the housing predictions are wrong, and this will never happen

"If in future the numbers turn out to be correct, and not ‘stupid’, so be it - but we think it will never happen."

Dr Milner also voiced concerns about the types of homes set to be built.

He said: "Developers will immediately build four and five-bed houses, to try to attract well-off people to Coventry.

"But the housing which is actually needed for people who live in Coventry, council housing at rents people can afford, on brownfield sites, will not get built."

One of the campaigners, Merle Gering, is standing in the local election next month as an independent councillor for the Sherbourne ward.

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Coventry Council candidate says public misled on Local Plan traffic increases



THE COUNCIL’S housing developments will make ‘diabolical’ traffic north of the city even worse, an Independent councillor says.

Merle Gering – a passionate environmental campaigner – will be running in the local elections on May 3 for Sherbourne ward.

Mr Gering feels the public has been misled during consultations about how Local Plan developments will affect traffic in the Coventry North West area.

The Local Plan was adopted by Coventry City Council in December and outlined a need for 42,400 homes in the area by 2031.

He says residents in the North West were previously told these new developments would not have a ‘significant impact’ on already disruptive traffic.

But Mr Gering fears the evidence shows planned developments around Keresley combined with HS2 construction will significantly affect traffic volumes and travel time.

He is also concerned about the increasing impact of air pollution created by congestion.

Mr Gering claimed the council said average journey times, after planned housing development, would only increase by seven seconds.

But Mr Gering says this increase on journey time does not consider the 18,000 homes overspill into Warwick, Rugby and Nuneaton areas – nor did it take into account the traffic impact of constructing the new HS2 station and interchange at Birmingham International.

He says during public meetings and in council documentation from December 2016, residents repeatedly heard proposals for the Keresley area would only cause a ‘slight increase’ in network delays and traffic.

Mr Gering said: “Plans for thousands of new houses on green belt around Coventry will have a devastating impact on both pollution and traffic. Motorists already experience slow frustrating commutes to work – at rush hour I can get to the city centre faster by push bike than the cars can.

“The Holyhead and Allesley Old Roads already have bottlenecks during peak times and the A45 is the same – and it’s going to get worse.

“The Coventry and Warwickshire Local Plans have not been coordinated to assess the combined impact of massive house building and HS2 construction, which will give us at least 10 years of traffic hell.

“The roads need to be in place before house building and HS2 construction work begins.”