Althorpe Development by canal

Warwick District Green Party has serious concerns about the student and employment proposal for Althorpe next to the canal on the ladder bridge. We would like to see a mixed affordable housing and employment development, which does not remove mature trees along the canal and which pays more than lip service to biodiversity. The development claims to be built to a high standard, but is still including gas boilers and expensive inefficient electric wall heaters. Further details on our position are set out below. We are doing considerable work on this application in the background so if you have any further questions or comments please do get in touch.

• The HMO concentration is above 10% within 100metres and therefore breaches H6 and it is not appropriate for exceptions to be invoked.
• HS1 which requires developments to: ‘provide energy efficient housing to help reduce fuel poverty’ is breached. The developer says the scheme is will use gas and electric heating. Communal areas will be heated by Air Source Heat Pumps, but the individual rooms by electric heating panels. These are costly and inefficient and not an acceptable energy solution.
• The biodiversity net gain calculation is erroneous and contravenes NE3. A variation in the red line means that some areas are not accounted for . I draw your attention to the ecology and landscaping comments on this. A 27 year wait until the project is biodiverse neutral is not acceptable in a climate emergency and the developer should bring forward proposals to significantly reduce this time. The applicant would not consider it acceptable to wait 27 years to make a financial profit!
• The loss of so many (25) mature trees along the canal is not acceptable, especially when this is recognised as a key green corridor and in a climate emergency.
• The Council has a duty to provide a supply of appropriate employment land and I am concerned that the loss of workshop space is not being replaced elsewhere, especially given that in the local plan this site is marked for employment land. I am also concerned that although the applicant claims all existing businesses have been found other accommodation there are still a number on the statement saying ‘to be confirmed’.

There is no affordable housing proposed by the applicant on this site. The applicant cannot claim to be socially responsible and contributing to the community without including affordable housing which we desperately need. The previous application on the site said that a 251 bed development was financially viable, so to argue that some affordable housing would not be viable does not stack up. We welcome the car free approach taken by the applicant, which in this location could work for other housing types as well as students. To ensure that this car free approach works there must be substantial walking and cycling contributions to address pedestrian and cycle movements to all of:

• Down Althorpe Streeet to link in with High Street
• Under the arches to Camberwell Terrace and Radford Road (including safety improvements)
• Making ladder bridge across the canal accessible to those with disabilities and cyclists, particularly reflecting the need to access green space (Eagle Rec) and Asda.
• Canal tow path improvements for access to Morrisons and the station.

Without these links any wider contributions to the pedestrian and cycling network will not be effective. Without these links the claim to be a sustainable car free development is not justifiable because access will not be safe or easy and it would create problems of people trying to drive to and from the site.

We also think that the café triangle space could work as a nice focal point for a development, although we’re concerned about the narrowness towards the Camberwell terrace