Warwick District consultation on housing allocations closed 2013 July 29. Very damaging implications for Warwick Castle Park and the setting of the town itself. Our response here
A revised development strategy then increased the projected number of new houses needed in the district to 12,900. Many of the people living in the proposed 4,000 new houses south of Warwick would have a daily drive past Castle Park, over Castle Bridge and through Warwick Town Centre. In May 2015 a first phase of scrutiny of just the numbers of houses by a planning inspector was held. Discussion of the locations was to follow. His ruling was not, as we hoped, that the numbers were more than needed, but that another 7,000 needed to be added.
In the meantime developers were exploiting the National Planning Policy Framework’s presumption in favour of development if there is not enough housing land supply for five years. Without a finalised Local Plan, this is the case in Warwick. All the sites consulted upon (and generally objected to) in the Plan consultation have how had applications submitted. Additionally, developers lined up with applications on three sites which the Council had not included because of their proximity to Warwick Castle Park.
