Mike O'Brien MP

COUNCIL CHIEFS TOLD TO DROP HOUSING CONSULTATION PROPOSALS NOW

Council Chiefs at Nuneaton and Bedworth got a roasting when they attended a packed meeting of angry residents in Ash Green who are threatened by Borough Council proposals to build thousands of houses on the green belt around the area. 

The residents put forward two demands.  Firstly, that the Borough Council immediately drops three out of eight options in its housing consultation "Core Strategy" that  involve building 3,500 houses at the request of Coventry Council on green belt land near Ash Green.  Secondly, the residents demanded that the Council pay for a Judicial Review of the poor public consultation process about the housing proposals run by both the Borough and Coventry City Council.

Ash Green residents packed the Parish Hall on Friday to hear two main speakers, Mike O'Brien MP who fully backed the residents demands and Cllr Andrew Burtenshaw the Borough Cabinet member who defended the Council's decisions.  Cllr Peter Gilbert the Council Leader later offered support to Cllr Burtenshaw.  Another speaker was Merle Gering a resident from Keresley who called for urgent action to save the green belt and to stop the housing plans going forward.

The meeting was called by protestors angry about an agreement reached in July 2009 that the Borough Council would allocate land for 3,500 homes for Coventry City Council.  The Borough Council had set out its options for delivering on the agreement in a public consultation last autumn.  The consultation had three options for the 3,500 houses to be built.  If any of the three options in the Councils proposals was approved they would swamp Keresley, Ash Green and Exhall over the next decade, effectively merging the area into Coventry. 

Mike O'Brien told the audience, "In July 2009 Nuneaton and Bedworth Council agreed to take an extra 3,500 houses for Coventry and to dump them here.  They later consulted on the options to deliver the agreement in the autumn and have not yet announced an outcome.  I oppose these plans. I say Coventry should build its houses on its own side of the border."

Cllr Burtenshaw tried to claim that the Government was behind it, but Mike O'Brien, a Government Minister, dismissed this saying that the 3,500 houses were entirely due to a private agreement reached between the councils last year.  The Government request for some housing in Nuneaton and Bedworth Council had already been satisfied when the Council agreed to build 10,800 houses over ten years, distributed around the whole Borough - a figure well above that recommended by Government housing bodies.  The 3,500 houses were a late addition. 

The MP said that some time before last July there had been a new and secret agreement to take the additional 3,500 houses for Coventry.  The 3,500 houses were in his view a voluntary addition and unnecessary.

A year ago, Coventry City Council had approached both Nuneaton and Bedworth and Warwick Councils to take 3,500 extra houses each.  Houses originally intended for Coventry.  The Borough Councils both agreed and the report of the decisive meeting of the West Midlands Regional Assembly meeting at Wolverhampton in July tells its own story.  Mike O'Brien dramatically read to the meeting paragraph 8.37 of the report.  It says "...it was immensely helpful that there was clear agreement between the three planning authorities that there should be 3,500 dwellings to serve Coventry immediately to the north of its boundary in Nuneaton and Bedworth". 

Mike O'Brien said, "I say they sold out our area.  Conservative Councillors control both Coventry City and Nuneaton and Bedworth Councils.  I live nearby in Bedworth Heath.  And the Bedworth Wards affected are represented by Labour Councillors who were appalled by this deal done behind closed doors. Questions must be asked about why Borough council leaders agreed to it.  They have never explained themselves."

Last summer the MP and local residents criticised the Borough Council for the housing deal and in October, Nuneaton and Bedworth Conservatives agreed to drop their backing for the plans. 

At first they tried to claim it had been imposed by the Regional Assembly but were embarrassed when it was revealed that the majority of the Councillors on it were Conservative.  The Government had asked for more homes in the West Midlands region but has never specified where they should be built. That was a Council decision.   

The MP showed the meeting a copy of the Borough Council Consultation document issued last September in which three out of eight proposals had 3,500 homes located near Ash Green to accommodate Coventry residents.  The MP asked how many residents had ever seen the document.  Amid angry scenes it was clear few residents had ever seen the document. It had never been delivered to their homes.

Mike O'Brien said, "The Borough Conservative Councillors are responsible for the 3,500 extra homes from Coventry.   These are the Borough Council's consultation proposals.  The Council Cabinet has put them forward.  They should drop them now. 

"They recently announced they would delay a decision until after an election.  It is a similar tactic to the delay on a Fire Station decision.  They should decide now.  They should say they are withdrawing these plans to build 3,500 houses forthwith and restart the consultation again."

Cllr Andrew Burtenshaw backed by Cllr Peter Gilbert the Conservative Leader defended the Council saying it was engaged in a planning process and that it was right to delay the decision for some months.

Mike O'Brien is to write to the council calling on them to announce the outcome of the planning consultation before the election.  "They should formally rule out the three options involving dumping 3,500 Coventry houses here. And they should start a Judicial Review of the inadequate consultation on these plans immediately."