Local MP Marcus Jones has written to the Leader of Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council urging the Council to devise a new local plan for the town, following the close vote in the town hall chamber last night, when the application to build 300 homes on countryside land at Weddington was rejected.

After helping Weddington residents fight the plans to develop Weddington fields, Marcus believes that the very close split vote in the town hall chamber shows just how important a new local plan is, after a number of Labour councillors voted to approve the Weddington development contrary to the current local plan which the same councillors agreed in 2006. Marcus believes this calls into question the validity of the current local plan.

Marcus firmly believes that with people living longer, more people choosing not to live together and with young people unable to get on the housing ladder we do need to see new development in Nuneaton, but Marcus stressed that Nuneaton needs development that is right for local communities. 

Commenting on the issue, Marcus said: “The confusion in the council chamber last night with several Labour councillors voting against their own local plan is hard to work out. If councillors cannot support the current local plan which they agreed in 2006 and several of them reaffirmed this June we are really putting the people of Nuneaton at the mercy of developers, who could challenge local planning decisions at appeal.

“Although I am not anti-development I am concerned that developers seem to want to develop sites in Nuneaton that form part of the countryside before we have used other, more suitable, brownfield sites that exist in Nuneaton. I also have concerns that this type of speculative application is not an isolated issue as we have seen a very similar application to develop countryside land at St Nicolas Park.

“I am calling on the local council to engage with the public to set a clear direction over how many new homes we build, what types of land we use first and how we resource the necessary infrastructure, I am alarmed that I hear from councillors that at a recent council scrutiny committee, senior officers explained that the new local plan would take two years.

 “That’s just not acceptable, without a clear plan, I fear that we are at real risk of inappropriate development taking place in Nuneaton. Implementing a new local plan will help to avoid such speculative planning applications and give us proper, thoughtful and well planned community led development for the future.”