Author Archives: CanSue

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Clicking on the register link will take you to the ZOOM registration page.

Tree Wardens have launched this petition to challenge the Council’s plans to allow building on really important green land between London Road and Allard Way. The wildlife, plants and trees there are fantastic, photos below. Not just veteran Oak trees, but wonderful wildflowers and a woodland actually planted by the Council’s tree officer. Increased traffic and pollution would be awful.

Please help us by signing and sharing this petition.

CPRE (Campaign to Protect Rural England) Warwickshire started their “Brownfield first” campaign on social media this week. Please find their Facebook page here. You might recognise the photographs, both aerial and ground based, for they are of sites around Coventry.

Coventry City Council and other local authority planning areas – Warwick, Solihull, Stratford, Rugby, Nuneaton and Bedworth along with North Warwickshire – must be made stop trashing our countryside and instead build on the masses of brownfield sites that exist in their districts, cities and boroughs. It is absolutely criminal that they ignore this available land and prefer instead to take the easy route of allowing developers to bulldoze and concrete over of our green fields.

What would be great is if you would look at the link, then like it and comment on it. And then even better, forward it to your contacts list. The more people that get to understand what is being done to our countryside and object to it, the more likely Councils and their councillors will start being a bit more wary – you might vote them out of office!

Yet more coverage of the mounting pressure to review the numbers.

Can all residents please raise their objections to Coventry Council objecting to the development in Sandpits lane – most council staff are working from home therefore send a message on the Planning Comments page or e-mail direct to planning@coventry.gov.uk.

The closing date for objections is 30th November and be sure to include TAMWORTH/BENNETTS ROAD DEVELOPMENT ref. RM/2020/2399

Some points are provided below. As always, it is best if you can adapt the bullets and use at least some of your own words and experience. Attached is the excellent Planning Objection prepared by Keresley Parish Council.

Continue reading →

The Guardian covered the ongoing fight against unnecessary development this weekend.

Mayor of West Midlands and 5 local MPs challenge ONS population estimates for Coventry
CPRE calls on Coventry to suspend damaging planning decisions.

Andy Street, the Mayor of the West Midlands, 5 local MPs (Zarah Sultana (L), Tai Owatemi,(L) Craig Tracey (C), Jeremy Wright (C), and Mark Pawsey (C)’, and CPRE Warwickshire have sent a letter of complaint to the UK Statistics Authority, which regulates official stats in the UK and supervises ONS.

They are challenging the population estimates and projections for Coventry and asking the UKSA to carry out an independent review. They say that bad planning decisions are being made on the back of bad data. They do not believe that there is any evidence, that Coventry population is growing twice as fast as Birmingham, three times as fast as Solihull, or four times as fast as Warwick – as the ONS mid year estimates and projections claim,

Sir Andrew Watson chair of CPRE Warwickshire, said that planning decisions about the green belt in and around Coventry, should be deferred until the UKSA can respond to overwhelming evidence, endorsed by 4 international demographic experts, that exceptional population growth in Coventry is not happening. That evidence is summarised in the letter. He said, “It would be tragic if the historic and beautiful forest of arden landscape, one of Warwickshire’s treasures, was sacrificed for homes that are not needed in this place at this time.

As an example, he cites the fact that births in Coventry have been far below the levels predicted by ONS, by more than 1000/yr – the population is just not growing in the way that they projected. Other data, such as the numbers of voters, school admissions , amount of gas and electricity used, pensions claimed, jobs growth, house prices, house completions & starts, all show that population growth in Coventry is just average for the region – that it is not launching into some rocket propelled expansion.

On Thursday 26 November, Coventry Council Planning Committee, is going to consider an application for 2500 homes at Eastern Green, in the so called Meriden Gap between Coventry and Birmingham. Over many years multiple planning inspectors have emphasised the importance of keeping this rural green landscape -o prevent Coventry from merging into Birmingham and to protect the separate identities of the two cities. CPRE feels that this land was unnecessarily removed from Green Belt by the latest Coventry Local Plan and that Coventry Council should review its local plan, in the light of new evidence, and return it to green belt.

Sir Andrew said that Coventry needs to look at all the evidence, and not be blinded by blind faith in the Office of National Statistics. They can and do make mistakes. In 2017, the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee said “Many of the available measures [of migration] are wholly inadequate. ….. the International Passenger Survey …..cannot bear the burden placed upon it and cannot be relied upon to provide accurate estimates of net migration.” Student migration is a “significant challenge”2. CPRE points out that miscounting international students – of whom there are 16,000 in the city – can account for a very large part of the error in the numbers. ONS counts them in, but fails to count them out when they go home.

CPRE believe that inaccurate population projections and estimates are likely a national problem and would welcome contact from others who feel that the numbers in their area are inflated and unwarranted housing growth is being forced upon them .