A Turning Point in the History of Burton Green as a Village You have a limited opportunity between now and 7th March to tell Warwick District Council (WDC) whether you would rather live in a village, bordered by an open rural landscape, or to potentially lose this and become another rapidly expanding suburb of Coventry or Kenilworth.
What’s at stake? The government wants South Warwickshire to build 54,500 new houses by 2050. Warwick District Council is currently working with Stratford District Council on the South Warwickshire Local Plan 2050 (SWLP) to decide where these houses, business developments and their infrastructure will be built over the next 25 years. Most of these new houses will likely need to be built on “Greenfield” or Green Belt land such as the fields that currently separate us from the larger settlements of Coventry and Kenilworth and which make Burton Green… green.
36 potential sites have been identified for these major developments. One of these sites is SG01 (see map below) which covers an area of 1465 acres / nearly 2.5 sq. miles and stretches from Burton Green to the Kenilworth Road and from Westwood Business Park to the HS2 line. This area has been assessed to have capacity for around 5000 new houses.
What can you do? The SWLP team are consulting residents to help it decide which of the 36 potential sites will be developed. Not all the locations will be required to meet the need for growth and the SWLP team will decide which sites will be carried forward for development using this consultation feedback.
The Parish Council will make its own detailed response but this will not be enough to prevent SG01 being chosen. We can assume that residents near to other identified sites will be making their views known. Therefore, if we wish to prevent the selection and development of SG01 we all need to make a submission to loudly, clearly and collectively oppose it.
Public Meeting – How to have your say The Parish Council has organised a public meeting on Monday 10th February at 7 pm in the Village Hall,Red Lane so you can:-
make your views known to your Parish Council
lean more about the SWLP and SG01
learn how to submit your view and what evidence and arguments will have most impact
This meeting is intended to make it as easy as possible for everyone to make the case against SG01. We strongly urge you to attend this meeting so that you are able to make your voice heard and determine and protect the long-term future of our village.
Further Information If you are unable to attend the meeting then you can find further information on this FAQ document. The Council are also organising a petition to support the case that the Safeguarded land east of Bockenden Road should be returned to the Green Belt. There was overwhelming support for this is a recent survey, so now is your chance to sign it! Click here to sign the petition.
The consultation closes on Friday 7th March. Afterwards the consultation responses will be assessed by the SWLP team as part of a process to draft a proposed set of policies and a single spatial growth strategy. Consultation responses will be available to view in full online. For more information on the South Warwickshire Local Plan process please view the SWLP website here.