How to cut the housing numbers in the South Warwickshire Local Plan

How to cut housing numbers in the South Warwickshire Local Plan

The Campaign to Protect Rural England is calling on everyone to comment on the South Warwickshire Plan before the closing date of next Tuesday 8 September, the last chance to have your say. Mark Sullivan, Technical Secretary of CPRE Warwickshire, says, “We hope everyone, whatever your views on the details of the Plan, will call for the shortening of the life of the Local Plan by 7 years to the normal 15 years. The Plan has very high housing numbers – 54,900 houses – because it is to run until 2050. There is no need for it to do this. Changing the Plan period to 15 years reduces the number to 39,500.

“8,000 houses can be cut from the numbers being imposed in Warwick District and 7,500 from Stratford District’s total.”

CPRE’s proposal that councillors shorten the Plan period to 2043 will allow them to cut out from Stratford District the housing east of Southam and north of Wellesbourne, the 2,000-house plan in the Green Belt north of Henley in Arden, and 650 houses of the allocation at Bidford on Avon.

In Warwick District, the Green Belt housing sites at Hatton Station (4,000 houses), land south of Kenilworth, and the Green Belt areas around Leamington at Old Milverton, Blackdown and east of Lillington can be cut out.

CPRE also says that the large Long Marston Airfield sprawl should be replaced by a smaller, more compact housing development on the former Long Marston Military Depot land, and the 4,000 houses proposed on the south west edge of Coventry in Burton Green Parish should be accommodated inside Coventry instead.

See CPRE’s calculated reduction in housing numbers below. Other ways to cut 15,000 houses from the huge total will be suggested by local groups – we encourage everyone to submit their own proposals.

“Of course 39,000 houses in South Warwickshire over 15 years is still far too high”, says Mark Sullivan. “It should be half that. We are proposing a way forward within the Labour government’s present harsh policy. If the next Election brings a change in government, then much bigger reductions may be possible.”

Mark Sullivan

01926 494597 or 07742 809 930

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CAMPAIGN TO PROTECT RURAL ENGLAND (CPRE) – WARWICKSHIRE

SOUTH WARWICKSHIRE LOCAL PLAN Regulation 19 Draft Plan

Large housing allocations that can be withdrawn from the Plan by limiting the SWLP to 15-year Plan Period instead of 22 years (2025 to 2050)

(Plan adopted 2028; standard plan period 15 years; end date of Plan 2043 instead of 2050

This is one option for reducing greenfield housing sites with a 15-year SWLP Plan Period. Others may offer different combinations of sites to delete.