Homes plan go-ahead despite campaign
ANOTHER 550 homes on former green belt land in Keresley have been approved despite a fight from campaigners.
Bellway Homes’ outline plan on land between Tamworth Road and Five Field was approved five votes to three at a council meeting.
The scheme will provide 25 per cent affordable housing and contribute to a wider allocation in Keresley for 3,100 homes.
Critics had fought against the scheme due to the impact on local roads, with Tamworth Road branded “one of the most dangerous in Coventry” after two deaths last year.
Cllr Jandu Tarlochan Singh, one of three ward councillors to object, said it will result in “tailbacks” on local roads, reduce air quality and “destroy acres of green belt”.
The scheme backs onto historic ancient woodlands Pikehorn Wood and The Alder and objectors including The Woodland Trust and Warwickshire Wildlife Trust argued the 25-metre buffer to homes was not enough and should be double - although planning officers disagreed.
Fellow ward councillor Glenn Williams said the plan would bring “more chaos to this area” and the committee should vote to keep “this part of the ancient arden unspoilt and natural”, adding: “This is an unsustainable urban extension and it was madness to take it out of the green belt.”
However, the scheme was backed by Highways officials who registered no safety concerns after developers agreed to some £5.5m worth of funding for improvements.
That includes around £1.5m for two superhighway cycle links linking to Holyhead Road and Barker Butts Lane, funding for widening and signalisation of the B4113 Pickards Way approach, and £2m towards a new link road serving the wider SUE.
Richard Thomas, from highways, said: “The 106 contributions towards highways and transport speak for themselves in terms of how serious we take the highways issues with respect to sustainability.”
Concerns were also raised over a lack of infrastructure for buses, but highways officer Richard Hall said a bus would be provided on the Tamworth Road every 30 minutes to the city centre, with funding to support it for a seven-year period.
Bellway’s representative Gary Stevens said the plans were “entirely consistent with the relevant proposals of the local plan”, which removed land from the green belt in 2017.
Fergus Thomas, strategic land director at Bellway, added: “There is an undisputed need for housing in the area.
“We want to build a highquality flagship scheme on our doorstep that the city can be proud of.”
The scheme will connect with another homes site currently under development from Taylor Wimpey, who have outline permission for 800 homes within the SUE and reserved matters approval for 322.
The development of a school to serve the new homes has been a bone of contention but planning officer Nigel Smith said the council is due to accept land for a two-form entry primary school this year, which should give “some comfort”.
There had also been calls for the application to be deferred until a review of population figures by the UK Statistics Authority - which is argued would show reduced housing need - is published this month, but the committee was told the review “doesn’t have sufficient weight to justify” deferral.