PLANS FOR THOUSANDS OF NEW HOMES IN THE CITY

NEW plans have been submitted for thousands of homes on former green belt land in Coventry.

Hallam Land Management has submitted a revised bid for up to 2,400 homes at the site at Eastern Green, south of the A45.

It is a reduction from the number of houses submitted in an initial planning application in 2018, which earmarked up to 2,625 homes.

However, it is still greater than the 2,250 houses the site was allocated for in the council’s Local Plan when it was removed from the green belt in 2017.

Transport assessments also state the wider site could actually comprise of 3,495 houses - a staggering 55 per cent increase on what was originally planned.

Coventry City Council has previously told the Local Democracy Reporting Service the 2,250 allocation was always meant to be a “minimum”, however Coventry Conservatives have criticised the scale of the scheme, again reiterating a call to review housing needs in the Local Plan.

The Office of National Statistics (ONS) said the population will surge by almost a third in the next 12 years requiring 42,400 homes around Coventry, but campaigners say this has not taken into account departing students.

Leader of the group, Cllr Gary Ridley, said: “The plan now is for 2,400 houses but that is not for the entirety.

“The local plan said it was for up to 2,250 for the entire section but already it will be far greater.

“Planners need to rebuff the developers on this and come back with a more appropriate scheme.

“We have a climate emergency yet we are taking out huge numbers of trees on the green belt.

“All of this comes about because of very shaky ONS predictions.

“That is going to create an enormous strain on infrastructure and services. It would make far more sense to review the local plan.”

The scheme includes a new primary school, a district centre and smaller local centre, business units, and retirement housing or assisted living.

Revised plans increase the employment area from 10.25 hectares to 15 hectares, provides a larger three-form entry school, a safeguarded corridor dedicated to potential future public transport, and makes changes to some road layouts and tree buffers.

The last plans led to objections from University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, stating they have “no sufficient resources or space” to cope “without the quality of service [...] dropping.”

The trust requested £1.34m to cope with the influx of patients from the development, prior to planning permission.

A planning statement submitted to the council said: “The proposals will deliver not only the employment land in full, as well as a primary school site capable of meeting the needs of the allocation as a whole, but also other non-residential uses to serve the new and existing community.

“In addition to the major district centre required by the Local Plan with a focus on ‘bulky retail’ and a superstore, the proposals include a smaller local centre to provide convenience retail and other ‘day to day’ needs of residents.

“There has been constructive dialogue with CCC and the clinical commissioners about whether the local centre will also accommodate a health surgery and/or community hall, and the applicant is making provision for this through the proposals and associated Section 106 which is also being progressed with CCC.”

A new public consultation period runs until February 29.