‘Destruction would be unthinkable’ - Warwickshire villages respond to option for 6,700-home new town
SHORT-SIGHTED, financially un-viable and environmentally reckless. That’s the reaction to an idea to build up to 6,700 homes between the villages of Bearley and Wilmcote over the next 25 years.
And another conclusion? It’s “a desktop exercise” that was “prepared without any real understanding of the area involved”.
But even more dramatic is the accusation that building next to Mary Arden’s Farm in Wilmcote would be to tread on Shakespeare’s “mother’s womb”.
With these statements campaigners from the two villages summarised their disgust at the suggestion that there should be a massive new settlement stretching between them and straddling the A3400 Birmingham Road.
And they’ve set out to obliterate in forensic detail any idea that such a scheme – effectively a new town – should have been dreamt up in the first place.
A swiftly-formed action group in Wilmcote has produced a 21-page document condemning in unequivocal terms the very thought of this new settlement on its borders. And not least of Wilmcote’s concerns is the effect such an enormous development will have on one of the gems of English history – Mary Arden’s Farm, the place where Shakespeare’s mother grew up.
For its part Bearley Parish Council – representing the residents at the other end of this suggested urban sprawl – has come up with a 64-page denunciation of the suggestion that such a vast enterprise should be located on its doorstep.
Representatives from both villages turned up on Friday – the deadline for the first round of consultations on the draft South Warwickshire Local Plan – to deliver copies of their objections to Elizabeth House, the headquarters of Stratford District Council.
The draft plan has been prepared jointly by Stratford and Warwick district councils to set in place the whole of south Warwickshire’s housing, economic and environmental requirements between 2027 and 2050.
Under the proposals, the Stratford district will need to provide land on which to build 27,000 new homes over that period, while Warwick is expected to supply the capacity for 27,400 – a total of 54,400 in the two districts over the next 25 years.
The comments from all those who’ve taken part in the consultation exercise will be analysed in the coming months and a response from the two councils is expected before the end of the year.
Cllr George Cowcher (Lib Dem, Wellesbourne South), deputy leader of Stratford District Council and its portfolio holder for planning and economic development, has warned that the plan must remain on schedule or it will be taken over and controlled by the government.
However, Cllr Cowcher has also pointed out that so far as the Stratford district is concerned, there is three times the amount of land available than will actually be needed. In other words, two thirds of the proposals currently on the table could be jettisoned before the final plan is formulated.
This will bring hope to many people – but nothing is certain. However, the residents of Wilmcote and Bearley are fighting a battle royal to try to ensure that the planners eventually put the kibosh on the idea of swamping them with 6,700 new homes.
In their opening statement the Wilmcote Action Group state: “We intend to prove that this plan has been a desktop exercise and has not taken into account the impact [the development] will have on Wilmcote and the wider area including the historic market town of Stratford-upon-Avon.”
The Wilmcote document attacks the settlement idea on five fronts:
nInadequate transport infrastructure.
- Risk of “catastrophic” flooding.
- Destruction of green belt land.
- “Unthinkable” damage to heritage.
- Severe compromise of habitat and biodiversity.
Not surprisingly, the Wilmcote residents are much exercised about the impact of such a development on Mary Arden’s Farm.
The Wilmcote Action Group have even recruited the support of a Shakespeare scholar in their submission. Professor Ewan Fernie is a Wilmcote resident and is chair, professor and fellow of Shakespeare Studies at the Shakespeare Institute in Stratford, which is part of the University of Birmingham.
He declares: “The hero of one of Shakespeare’s later plays is persuaded not to sack his home city by the argument that this would be to tread upon his mother’s womb.
“Like the reference to Wilmcote in The Taming of the Shrew, it is a powerful indication that not just his mother but his mother’s home mattered to Shakespeare. I feel sure he would urge the council not to tread on his mother’s womb and bulldoze and concrete over his motherland..”
For its part, the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust expressed in its own submission concerns about further urbanisation of the rural landscape that envelops the village of Wilmcote and Mary Arden’s Farm.”
Bearley Parish Council, in its submission, says: “It is clear to us that this proposal was prepared without any real understanding of the area involved.”
The council highlights some of the issues raised by the Wilmcote Action Group, including:
- Transport and safety.
- The green belt.
-Biodiversity.
But in a calmly argued and highly rational tone it sets out to thoroughly demolish any suggestion that a 6,700-home settlement should be built between Bearley and Wilmcote.
It maintains that it would be “unsound” to proceed with the idea until the evidence set out by the parish council is properly considered.
With all that’s at stake, “unsound” seems like a highly euphemistic way of describing the emotional battleground that lies ahead.
