‘Green concreting’ fears over number of homes planned for South Warwickshire
GREEN campaigners say councillors who blocked their proposals are allowing twice as many houses to be built.
The Greens put forward an amendment to shorten the length of the South Warwickshire Local Plan (SWLP), the crucial planning document that sets out where and what type of development is allowed in the area. It suggested slashing the period covered – which runs to 2050 – down to 2042.
They say this would half the number of new housing sites needed to be put forward for development.
But councillors from Stratford and Warwick district councils voted down the amendment by four votes to two.
Green Party group leader Cllr Ian Davison (Leamington Brunswick), who was at the joint cabinet committee meeting on Thursday (12th December) said: “Going to 2050 means about double the houses will be allocated on new developments. That means twice as much new green belt or other greenfield land will be scheduled for concreting over.
“This proposed additional recommendation does not change the number of homes allocated per year. What it would do is stop this being locked in for the next 25 years, regardless of change of circumstance.”
At the meeting councillors gave the go ahead for public consultation on the next stage of the South Warwickshire Local Plan. The preferred options version of it will now go out for an eight-week consultation – from 10th January to 7th March.
Cllr Davison also said everyone agreed house prices locally were too high, so building smaller, genuinely affordable homes was “vital”.
Figures from the Local Plan show the average house price for Stratford is £375,000 – 10 times the median income.
Under Cllr Davison’s proposal, an extra question would have been added to the consultation to give the public a chance to vote on whether to shorten the length of the Local Plan.
This was supported by fellow Green Cllr Lowell Williams (Kenilworth Park Hill) but rejected by Cllr George Cowcher (Lib Deb, Wellesbourne South), Cllr Liz Coles (Lib Dem, Stratford Hathaway), Cllr Susan Juned (Lib Dem, Alcester East) and Cllr Christopher Knight (Labour, Leamington Clarendon).
SDC and Warwick District Council, who have teamed up to produce the joint plan, will be running a series of in-person and online events to promote the consultation.
The plan will set out how both councils intend to deliver housing, employment and infrastructure.
It is likely 2,178 new homes will be built in South Warwickshire – 1,098 of these in the Stratford district.
As reported previously by the Herald, 12 potential sites for housing have been identified in south Warwickshire, including Long Marston Airfield which could see almost 10,000 homes built there.
Sir Andrew Watson, president of the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England in Warwickshire, criticised the target numbers for new homes as “simply not viable”.
He told the Herald: “All around the country, there are objections saying the numbers are simply not viable.
“The real housing need is in houses to let. Something like three million people in the country are waiting for a council house – that is where the prime need is. That’s the place where targets could and should be imposed because we are building lots of houses which are second, third and fourth homes.
“More houses to let are necessary in the Stratford area because there is a chronic shortage of manpower for hospitality and local small businesses which needs to be met as a matter of urgency, because if we’re going to kick-start the economy, it has to be done there.”