Local Plan will not help Lillington

Council leader Andrew Mobbs used the same argument, saying “we are committed to the regeneration of Lillington which is the most deprived area in our district, if not in the county.” (L/Spa Courier, 11/04/2014).

Lillington includes Cloister Crofts and Almond Avenue in the West, Gresham Avenue/Taylor Avenue and half of Buckley Road in the South, Montrose Avenue and Telford School to the North, and Parklands Avenue to the East. In all, the parish population is around 11,500. National statistics are compiled from ward sub-divisions known as low level super-output areas, corresponding to 1000 or more inhabitants. Lillington is covered by nine super output areas.

Information produced by Warwickshire Observatory (WCC) on north Leamington shows just one super output area, Lillington East, has a score for multiple deprivation which puts it in the top 10-20 per cent most deprived areas nationally, and a score for employment within the 10% most deprived nationally, based on 2007 figures. The report points to education, skills and training as being at the root of the deprivation.

The Local Plan contains no clue as to how “Lillington” is supposed to be “regenerated”. There is no employment land for the area in the Local Plan. Lillington is almost exclusively residential and has very little local employment opportunities. There are no large supermarkets, business units or office buildings. Recently Lillington has had to fight hard to save its Children’s Centre and Youth Work - something which actually does have a chance of breaking the cycle of poverty and deprivation. The service still has been slashed. Similarly, Lillington’s library hours have been cut, reducing access to computers and books which some children in Lillington find essential for their school studies, not having computers at home. Without strong intervention from our councillors the cuts would have been savage. Lilllington’s evening bus services have also been slashed – reducing access to transport for evening employment. Even if these cuts were reversed, how long would that last? Lillington has also lost its last pub – which could have been a focus for community cohesion and development. And now, the irreplaceable countryside amenity is under threat too.

The essential qualities of green belt land are “openness” and “permanence”. The green belt east and south of Lillington fulfils these criteria. Red House Farm /cottages area is a tranquil gem of unspoilt countryside – a “hidden secret valley”, one of the few places in the district which allows enjoyment of real, not suburbanised, countryside, with imperceptible traffic noise compared with much of the district.

The plot supports brown hares which are in drastic decline in the UK. Add houses, roads, cars, mowers, music and streetlights to the landscape, and it will be ruined. The families of south and east Lillington enjoy this free, accessible, safe facility, taking their children to picnic and ride bikes and paddle in the river. Once green belt status is removed from the building plot, the consequent degradation of the landscape will help remove protection from the rest of the area separating Lillington and Cubbington and the Leam’s water meadows. Warwick District’s “Landscape Sensitivity and Ecological and Geological Study” which supports the Local Plan has covered everywhere except the Red House Farm and Campion Hills areas. Only part of the Red House Farm site was included in the greenbelt survey, and Campion Hills Recreation Ground, was not included at all. These are very serious omissions.

It beggars belief that WDC can consider building on the Campion Hills, a jewel in Leamington’s crown and a prominent site with magnificent views across to Warwick. This again is amenity land, (not in Lillington) which is used freely by Lillington people and others for recreational activities and is where the fairs and circuses come. How does building houses on there “regenerate Lillington”?

The answer of course is that by building homes for the well-off at Red House Farm which would be included in the Lillington East super output area, the figures for deprivation will be suitably diluted and thus the deprivation will no longer show up in the national statistics – job done! In my opinion there is absolutely no justification for building at Lillington and the Campion Hills, and the nonsense about “regeneration” is an excuse to include land in north Leamington to placate those in the south who have protested vigorously about “unfairness” of the geographical distribution of proposed housing.