‘Just early stages’ of new local plan says councillor as 10 housing sites suggested for Warwick
A district councillor has said it is just the early stages for the new local plan which could see up to 10 new housing estates built around Warwick.
In February a list of 555 sites for development in south Warwickshire was published following a public consultation.
But with all the sites needing to be investigated by Warwick District Council and its Stratford counterpart, Cllr John Cooke said the finished plan was still a long way away.
"I will tell you that this is already of interest in parish councils certainly in our patch [WDC] and I suspect on Stratford's," he said at a meeting of the two councils' cabinets.
"There is a lot of interest in some of the sites and indeed even closer to home somebody rang me and said 'do you realise you are putting some houses on the Green Belt next to my house' and I said 'we're not, this is just early stages. None of these sites have been looked at'."
Last summer WDC and Stratford-upon-Avon District Council asked local people and businesses to suggest areas of land that could be built on in the future.
The suggestions will ultimately form part of the new South Warwickshire Local Plan which will run until 2050.
The two councils must now decide how suitable each site is for development.
"In relation to the call for sites I'll go back to my inverted funnel – it's the top of the hopper where everything has been thrown in, but that doesn't mean to say what will come out of the bottom," explained Cllr Darren Pemberton.
As part of the call for sites, major housing areas to the west of Warwick Racecourse, around Warwick Parkway Station and around Hampton Magna have all been suggested for housing.
Whilst land on the around Longbridge Roundabout has been recommended for industrial development and for biodiversity areas.
The plan is not expected to be finished until 2025, and with more public consultations needed before then, Cllr Cooke said this was only the start of the process.
"I have been amazed at the feedback we have had so far from these consultations; the scoping for sites was particularly successful," he added.
"There is a long long way to go, and I think the timings are very very critical as we go forward. I think that there is going to be some rocky events on the way.
"My predecessor doing the local plan for Warwick district told me that as he got close to the thing it became a nightmare so I am just hoping that that isn't the case and that all is harmony."
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