A proposal for a business park near Coventry Airport, previously approved by neighbouring Coventry City Council and Warwick District Council has been refused after call in by the Communities Secretary Eric Pickles, who assessed that the overall proposal would ‘give rise to substantial Green Belt harm’ (para. 32 of decision notice).
IHBC members may also be interested to note that section 18 of the decision letter relates to heritage matters, with the assessment that the ‘overall degree of harm to the significance of Lunt Fort would be slight and certainly less than substantial’. Landscape reports were developed assessing any potential impact on the heritage walk at Lunt fort (para 198), and the effects on nearby conservation areas assessed, with no objections from English Heritage received (para. 96). The heritage assessment concluded that the development proposal did not directly affect any designated heritage asset (para. 266-280).
The letter summarises the decision made thus: ‘taking all of the benefits of the proposed development into account, both on an individual basis and cumulatively, the harm to the Green Belt has not been clearly outweighed, and very special circumstances do not exist to justify allowing the inappropriate development’ (para. 33).
Coventry and Warwickshire LEP writes:
Jonathan Browning, chairman of the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership, said: ‘We are extremely disappointed and perplexed that this decision has been made by the minister, and we wait to see what decision the developers plan to do in terms of continuing to take the plans forward. The LEP has long-viewed Gateway as a nationally-significant employment site in Coventry and Warwickshire – with real potential of attracting major development from inward investors and expanding companies.
‘We believe the case is very strong to bring this development forward, and both local authorities directly involved also gave it the green light. In fact, the case for development has been strengthened during that time by the positive take-up of other key employment sites meaning this development has even more significance.
‘Around 10,000 jobs could be created at Gateway which will allow us to continue to build a successful and vibrant economy – the whole reason for the existence of the LEP. The CWLEP has backed the Gateway’s plans since we came into force in 2011 because we firmly believe this would have further strengthened Coventry and Warwickshire’s reputation as a driving economic force in the UK as the heartbeat of the technology, manufacturing and logistics sectors.’
Read the Coventry and Warwickshire LEP statement
