Category Archives: Updates

Site on Bennetts Road/Fivefield Road adjacent to Bunsons Wood. Please make your objections by 1st October to Planning@coventry.gov.uk as well as emma.spandley@coventry.gov.uk and nigel.smith@coventry.gov.uk

Policy H3 – Creating a sustainable Community. There is no provision in place in Keresley (Coventry) for a community centre, leisure facilities. The Parish Council requested that one of the retail outlets be designated for a community hub – this was rejected.

Policy GE3 – Protect enhance or restore habitat biodiversity. The developers have stated there will be a net gain for biodiversity. CCC ecologist disputes this. The Local Plan also states Biodiversity net gain in Keresley will not be achieved.

Policy EM2 – Building Standards. The house designs on the portal do not include floor area dimensions. Already it has been determined that both Bellways and Wimpeys do not meet the required minimum floor space for two of their house designs.

Policy EM4 – Flood risk. This is a high flood risk area with severe flooding in past years and as recently as 2020.

Policy EM5 – Drainage. Seven Trent have made it clear they do not have the capacity within their existing network to accommodate the housing proposed in Keresley. They have stated improvements are needed. New facilities planned by Seven Trent planned for 2030.

DEVELOPERS REPORTS

Amenities – They list a total of 19 amenities close to the site. Of these only three are within walking distance. They also include Coventry Colliery Club which has been built upon and a Co-op which does not exist.

Woodland Buffers – The drawings submitted by the developer states a buffer of 15m. This according to CCC planning document should be 20m plus 10m no build area. The developers have not included a planting design for the buffer and there should be a requirement in place to ensure the buffer is planted and established prior to commencement of construction. It should also be noted that a cycleway and footpath are shown on the plans leading into the buffer zone.

106 contributions – Education contributions being earmarked for schools not in Keresley. Still no firm details regarding the provision of a much needed primary school on the Wimpey development. CCC education have stated schools in the area were over capacity in 2022 and this continues to get worse.

106 contributions – Health No land allocated within the Keresley SUE for a Doctors Surgery. The Local plan states for this provision in Keresley ‘Not Known’. The facilities in the area can no longer cope with the increase. This is a very serious situation. There are no contributions for the Hospital. This is included on other applications. Is this an oversight by the planning department?

106 Contributions An amount of £912,000 towards a cycle route from Tamworth Road to Holyhead Road  and from Bennetts Road to Barkers Butts Lane, although less than 1% of Coventry people cycle compared to £37,375 to improve the bus service.

106 Contributions – Sports facilities Again being directed towards projects not in Keresley. No sporting provisions included within the Keresley SUE area.

Traffic CCC have stated the Keresley SUE is dependant upon the Link Road. There is still not a final route for this road, funding in place or a firm date for completion.

Traffic Congestion The CASM report is modelled to 2026. The developments in Keresley will continue way beyond this time. The HS2 and Birmingham Airport projects have a completion date of 2026 and have not been included in the data. Junctions at Long Lane, Exhall Road and Penny Park Lane are over capacity.

Car Reliance Keresley is dependent upon the motor car. Poor public transport, amenities not within walking distance and situated on the very outskirts of the City.

ITEMS NOT INCLUDED IN THE RESERVED MATTERS

Design details for the Woodland Buffer

Reports for sewerage facilities from Seven Trent.

Badger survey which should include surrounding area. A licence may be required.

Archaeological Survey prior to preparatory works to establish medieval route and ridge and furrow.

Trees. Your Local Plan recommends that trees to be removed for development should be CAVAT valued and suitably compensated for.

The Keresley SUE is being developed by nine different developers. There is no clear masterplan joining up these sites and addressing the requirements and needs for thousands of extra people expected to live in the area. Unless this is confidently addressed Keresley will not be a thriving community.

The council are currently seeking comments on the proposed development around Bennetts Road and Watery Lane. We would strongly encourage you to object – you can see our list of objections here.

Please get your comments in to planning@coventry.gov.uk by the 26th July.

Severn Trent takes fat profits, fish and rivers die

March and Rally
Meet Godiva Statue, Broadgate Coventry CV1 1LL
Friday 7 July 12-2pm.

March to Severn Trent HQ
2 St John’s Street, Coventry, CV1 2LZ

Event Sponsors:
Coventry Extinction Rebellion
Coventry Trades Union Congress
Coventry Green Party
Keep Our Green Belt Green
Tories for Conservation

Please see here & here two applications to be decided by Council on 23rd February. If any residents would be willing to speak at this meeting please register as required.

The officers committee reports can be seen here, beginning on page 29 – See items 7 & 8.

Please object to this planning application at the corner of Fivefield Road and Tamworth Road.

Ref: OUT/2022/3246
40 Homes
Deadline – 29 Dec 2022, midnight
send to Planning@coventry.gov.uk
copy to emma.spandley@coventry.gov.uk

Bullet points follow below:

• Still no firm decision on the planned primary school in Bennetts Road. The location is not sustainable as local amenities, School, Doctors, Chemist, shops etc. are not within walking distance and there is no adequate bus service. The development would be entirely car dependent.
• No consultations sought from Education, Sport, NHS, Fire, Police, Woodland Trust, and Warwickshire Wildlife.
• 4 Years after Mark Andrews assured us there would be a sponsor for the new Keresley SUE primary school, there is still nothing arranged.  At Banner Lane, and the Marconi development, schools were never constructed and land was returned to the developers.
• The local hospitals are at 100% of capacity, as are the surgeries.  Doctors are at breaking point. There is  A national shortage of Doctors and therefore the development will be unable to accommodate any additional residents of Keresley.  Local surgeries were not consulted, nor was the primary care trust.
• No 106 commitments offered.
• Homes should not be built on this site because the view from the Hill Fort, a scheduled ancient monument, will  be damaged.  That view is deemed to be of “strategic importance” in the Coventry Council Keresley Masterplan SPD. It is untrue, as claimed in the Pegasus Heritage assessment that, “No intervisibility was ……identified between the heritage asset and the proposed development Site”. The picture below, was taken from Corley Rocks Scheduled Ancient Monument [ie the Hill Fort] in Dec 2022. The snow covered roofs of sheds in the existing farmyard at Hall Hill Farm, [in the centre of the picture], are clearly visible, contradicting the claims of the Pegasus report. Homes built on that site would be a blot on the landscape. Fern House, a locally listed building is also visible to the right and the setting of this asset too would be damaged.

• The Keresley Masterplan SPD gives great weight to the views from the Hill Fort: “8. Key View Points. These are highlighted at Burrow Hill Fort and the top of Hounds Hill. These are considered of strategic importance linked to the setting of the SAM.”[emphasis added]
• The local plan [[Green and Blue Infrastructure] pg212] includes a requirement “To ….protect the most sensitive historic view corridors and setting of the Hill Fort Scheduled Monument. This development will damage the view from the hill fort and its setting. As such the application egregiously violates both the local plan policy and the Keresley SUE SPD.
• The planned exit onto Tamworth Road is dangerous and lies just after a bend. Cars often speed on this road and there have been fatalities in the fairly recent past.
• They are allowing a 15m buffer to the Ancient Hall Yard Wood. This is the minimum allowed by Natural England who state ‘ A larger buffer may be required depending upon the size of the development.’The Woodland Trust, who have not be consulted, would request a much larger buffer – and have done so for the Bellways development OUT/2019/0022, just down the road. In Coventry’s Ecology SPD they state. ‘Surveys should include the whole of the development boundary and adjacent land where direct or indirect impacts upon adjacent habitats are anticipated.’ They have not surveyed Hall Yard Wood.
• No firm provision in place for a bus service, currently three buses per day and no Sunday service.
• The Fivefield Road is an Eco-site with Ancient Hedgerows. The hedgerow boundary separating Coventry/Corley is also Ancient.
• They calculate 24 vehicle movements at peak hours – 40 houses x 2 cars all needing to use their cars to go anywhere plus delivery vehicles.

URGENT – Please object to these two planning applications in Keresley OUT/2022/0712 and OUT/2022/0713 by Tuesday 18 Oct, Midnight.

OUT/2022/0712 – 290 homes next to Bunsons Wood, between Fivefield Rd and Bennetts Rd

OUT/2022/0713 – 260 homes behind Manor Farm, West of Bennetts Rd

Here are a number of points you might which to mention. A short objection is fine. Do add in your own relevant experiences such as – how long you have been waiting for surgery at the hospital, getting children into local schools, traffic in the morning and evening, cycling to town where they relate to the bullet points.

Email your objection to Planning Department and Emma Spandley.

Keresley Sustainable Urban Extension (SUE) is progressing and currently has a number of planning applications from different developers awaiting a decision. There’s an opportunity for members of the public to hear a brief update from each housing developer present and the opportunity for a Q&A session with members of the public.

Confirmed Attending so far:
– Bellway
– Richborough Estates
– LSP Developments (Proposed Local Centre Development)
– Coventry City Council Planning Dept.

Please make the most of this opportunity to hear from the developers and also raise questions/concerns.

Please let anyone know who may be interested in attending. Please see details and RSVP on Facebook.

URGENT  – Deadline, Friday 20^th May

Please urgently object to 444 homes off Penny Park Lane and Watery Lane, in front of the Hare and Hounds. Points for objection are here. The Deadline is Friday 20^th May (which really means before start of business on Monday should be good enough – the council has recently agreed this arrangement).

Sorry for the deluge of requests. This is the council’s doing. We have asked them to extend the deadline because the website has regularly been unavailable, but we can’t count on it.

Send your email to

Planning@coventry.gov.uk
Nigel.Smith@coventry.gov.uk
emma.spandley@coventry.gov.uk
  
Many thanks & apologies for the late notice – it has been a nightmare responding to all these applications at once.

Many thanks

CanSue

Dear all,

Please object to OUT/2022/0713 – 260 homes at Manor Farm, Bennetts Rd, Keresley by (15/5/22). Please see some top line bullets below (more details here):

• There is grave doubt about the population forecasts for Coventry and any need for this housing. On the precautionary principle it would be reckless to make decisions now, on bad data, ahead of the census, which will very shortly resolve the matter.
• The Local plan states retention of ancient hedgerows is “essential” but the masterplan for the estate removes ancient and important hedges [H2,H3, H3, & H8]. It is a breach of local plan policies H2 and GE3 which protect “ancient hedges and important hedges, without qualification – the policies say they will be retained, not ‘when practical’ or ‘possible’.
• the Transport modelling systematically underestimates future traffic. Major sources of traffic growth are omitted. Local junctions are currently over capacity and likely to get worse even with mitigation, if the true scale of traffic growth is assessed.
• The government this week announced a dramatic change of policy – that housing targets will no longer be enforced and the people will have control. As such, irrevocable planning decisions motivated by past targets, should be paused until the new freedom of the local authority to make its own decisions, and the powers of the public to accept or reject such decisions, are clear. It would be folly to sacrifice the last best piece of the Warwickshire countryside, – CCC’s own words – when the compulsion to do so is gone.
• Coventry Secondary Schools are oversubscribed. There will be nowhere nearby for children to go to secondary.
• It is more and more doubtful that the new primary school promised for Keresley will be built. Four years ago, Mark Andrews promised that it would happen, that the council was urgently seeking a sponsor, but still no one has agreed to deliver the school. It is an old story. The same thing happened at Banner Brook, and Marconi, where promised schools, and surgeries never materialised. It is unsustainable to build homes, and hope that schools and surgeries will follow.
• the NHS has no capacity for additional growth. Both UHCW and Warwick Hospital are running at 100%. Covid ought to have taught us not to be casual about spare capacity for emergencies . Doctors surgeries are all full up too.

Please email your objections to the planning department (planning@coventry.gov.uk) and cc Emma Spandley (emma.spandley@coventry.gov.uk).

Many thanks

CanSue

Dear Friends,

Please be ready to send objections to planning applications in Keresley, especially the Bellways 550 homes development off Tamworth road and Fivefield Road by close of play tomorrow, Friday 13^th May.

These are the application references:

1. RMM/2022/0636 Dwellings (37) off Keresley Link Road
2. RMM/2022/0679 Dwellings (18) Tamworth Road
3. RMM/2022/0678 Dwellings (205) Fivefield Road
4. RMM/2022/0633 Dwellings (284) Tamworth/Fivefield Road

Included below are some points you may wish to reference for individual references:

RMM/2022/0633

• Addition of two access points on Fivefield Road not approved in OUT/2019/0022. The decision notice approved two not four.
• Failure to provide safe pedestrian access in Fivefield Road from the vehicle junction to the existing housing.  220 metres without a footway or street lighting.
• Effective closure of footpath M315 by not providing a path alongside plot 498.
• Effective closure of footpath M313 by not providing a suitable path through the development, instead proposing the use of the roadside footways.
• Failure to provide suitable access for fire tenders on some of the “Private Drives” which are greater than 20 metres in length.
• Use of plot vehicle access points as turning points which have the potential to become blocked.
• Failure to provide bus stops as required by item 4 (iv) of the decision notice for OUT/2019/0022.

RMM/2022/0636

• Failure to provide a suitable crossing point for footpath M315 as it crosses the Keresley Link Road.

RMM/2022/0678

• Failure to provide suitable access for fire tenders on some of the “Private Drives” which are greater than 20 metres in length.
• Use of plot vehicle access points as turning points which have the potential to become blocked.
• Failure to provide bus stops as required by item 4 (iv) of the decision notice for OUT/2019/0022.

All

Objection for 0679 is the Cedar Tree which is awaiting a decision. 0679 and 0633 access onto Tamworth Road, they could be reminded of the planning application for converting Keresley Manor into a Boutique Hotel which was turned down with the excuse the Tamworth Road was a busy road and more accesses onto it would be dangerous. Recently Keresley Manor has had plans passed for a standalone house,  fronting Tamworth Road with its own driveway onto Tamworth Road, this layout was refused and they were told to use existing Keresley Manor drive.

Tree removal is 396 trees and 1844 metres of hedgerow with the statement THIS MAY CHANGE WHEN FINAL LAYOUT IS DETERMINED.

All applications concern the 20m buffer to Ancient woods. Advice from Woodland Trust, Warwickshire Wildlife and Warwickshire Biodiversity is a minimum 50m buffer to secure the future of both fauna and flora. Noise, pollution in air and soil & increases in lighting will be destructive to wildlife. Immediately  adjacent to the buffers the developers plan various access roads leading from the individual dwellings.

Hydrology and drainage has been questioned by Sylvan (developers surveyors) and Warwickshire Biodiversity as presenting a problem. The Woods are on a slope cumulating in a valley and the Hall Brook. There is  to be a balancing pool at the top of the slope thus interfering with natural water flow. This in itself would be destructive to the woods particularly the Alders which is a wet woodland.

Destruction of a Victorian Stable Block (no.0633) which is in good condition with a new roof and a World War One underground Bomb Shelter (0679).

The area was released from the Greenbelt on the assumption of an extraordinary population increase in Coventry, the Census is available shortly and any decisions  should not be made until after the true figures are published.

The area was released from the Greenbelt on the understanding the Keresley Link Road would be built to accommodate this expansion. This is in doubt. No decision should be made until the Link Road and funding for it is a certainty.

Traffic surveys for the area do not include all the relevant developments – Eastern Green, Meggitts, Allesley Wedge development two further Keresley developments and a huge under-estimate of Amazon traffic plus further developments on the Lyons site.

Please also see

Here are two documents detailing responses to both RMM/2022/0633 and RMM/2022/0678 please feel free to include points raised in these too.

Many thanks

CanSue