Are ‘garden suburbs’ another recipe for suburban sprawl

Warwick District Council’s deputy chief executive Andy Jones this week gave a presentation to south Leamington community forum on his authority’s plans for development in the area until 2026.

Proposals include 650 homes south of Sydenham and 2,600 in a ‘Myton garden suburb’ between Leamington and Warwick.

The plans are intended to tie in with the Government’s National Planning Policy Framework and build on the district’s image as a leafy place to live, but Leamington Society chairman Richard Ashworth said some could be described as “suburban sprawl”.

He said: “This is a recipe for almost entirely private motoring, which is convenient if you can do it but is going to hugely increase congestion.”

Others warned that garden suburbs were fine for 1912, but not for 2012, with the idea of three or four-bedroomed detached houses going on for mile on mile “very wasteful” of land which could be used more imaginatively.

Myton Road resident Brian Bate warned that faced with 2,600 homes, two new supermarkets and offices, roads and roundabouts at Europa Way and Princes Drive would be unable to cope.

He feared that emergency services based north of the River Leam would not be able to reach south Leamington through rush-hour bottlenecks.

Some questioned the number of homes needed and the strategy of redrawing green belt around north Leamington, warning that when land ran out in 15 years’ time, planners would simply take more.

Some residents had concerns about the lack of bus services even now, questioning the statement that homes would be within 15 minutes’ walk of a bus stop.

Planning officers said most homes were currently within ten minutes of a bus stop, and said evidence showed 800m was the furthest most people would walk.

Mr Jones said traffic had been raised specifically in a draft infrastructure plan also being consulted on, and that it was the council’s duty to ameliorate this problem, while emergency services did not believe any of the sites proposed would increase the risk. He defended the figures for housing need, saying they were based on an independent market study, and said the policy of spreading developent onto green belt had been agreed to stop all new houses being built south of Leamington and Warwick.