‘Overspill’ homes plan set to be discussed
‘SAVE our Green Belt’ campaigners claim Nuneaton and Bedworth do not need to take the 4,000 ‘overspill’ homes from Coventry.
They are hosting a public meeting tonight where they claim to present ‘compelling’ evidence that the borough should not have to take any extra homes on behalf of the neighbouring city.
It has been a huge source of contention ever since it was agreed by Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council, through the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), that the two towns could accommodate the thousands of homes Coventry said it could not build.
But campaigners say that, according to new research from the Office of National Statistics (ONS), Coventry is not growing at enough of a rate for neighbouring areas to have to accommodate any extra homes and that an urgent review of the numbers needs to be undertaken by Coventry City Council.
It is a case that has been repeatedly made by borough councillor Keith Kondakor.
These new statistics will form part of the agenda at the meeting, which will be held at the Hare and Hounds Pub in Watery Lane, Keresley from 7pm until 9pm.
Campaigner Merle Gering said: “There is no need to build on Coventry’s green fields - 6,000 homes at Keresley and Eastern Green, Shakespeare’s Forest of Arden, and no need for 4,000 overspill homes in Nuneaton and Bedworth and no need for 4,500 overspill at King’s Hill .
“If the Coventry population was suddenly growing far faster than its neighbours, we should see the effects on services and life events that take in most of the population– in A&E attendance, births, school admissions, car registrations, gas and electricity usage, state pensions, ESA benefits, people on the electoral roll, and waste collection.
“In fact Coventry is just plodding along in step with its neighbours by these measures. Trends here – in A&E attendance, births, school admissions etc - are very similar to other cities and towns in the West Midlands. There is no sign that anything different is happening in Coventry. This is all based on published official government data, so called “administrative data”, which counts everyone and everything (unlike the population figures, which are just estimates except for the census years)
“If there are vast numbers of new individuals pouring into Coventry, they are ghosts or vampires – they leave no shadow. They don’t vote, don’t go to A&E, don’t have babies or send children to school, don’t claim ESA benefit or state pension, don’t use electricity or gas, and don’t make waste.
“Furthermore, new research, published by ONS on Jan 31 2019, shows undeniably that the annual population estimates, and projections, are at least 2,000 too large every single year, and are probably 3,000 too large each year. The error arises because they grossly undercount the number of foreign students who leave the country after graduating. Over 20 years, it balloons the predicted growth for Coventry by 40-60,000. Needless to say, if you take out 40,000 from the Coventry population growth, there is no need for 4,000 overspill homes in Nuneaton Bedworth.”
He concluded: “Coventry Council should start a review of the local plan immediately and return land to Green Belt.”
In the meantime, in regards to Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council’s Borough Plan, which is its own blueprint for all future development, it appears that it has been delayed yet again.
David Spencer, the independent government planning inspector tasked with looking into the draft plan, asked for even more time to look into part of the proposals.
Following examination hearings on February 19, he allowed another three weeks for participants of the examination to comment on alternative highways access to the proposed homes on the Woodlands in Bedworth.
As a result of this, there has been a delay in the inspector compiling his final report, which means more time until it can be looked at by the cabinet and then debated.