Fight to save Ashlawn Fields from development - The Rugby Observer

Fight to save Ashlawn Fields from development

Rugby Editorial 26th May, 2015 Updated: 27th Oct, 2016   0

OVER a 1,000 people have signed a petition to save Ashlawn Fields from development.

Rugby Borough Council has granted planning permission for 6,000 houses to be built on the radio masts site but campaigners fear the infrastructure is not in place to support so many new homes.

Coun Bill Lewis, who represents the Rokeby & Overslade ward, said: “This will meet Rugby’s housing needs for many years to come. We don’t need additional speculative building on our remaining green fields. Our roads would be unable to cope with the resulting increase in traffic.”

And newly elected councillor Marion Nash, who represents the same ward, was of teh sdame mind.




She said: “During the recent election campaign many people I spoke to were concerned about the impact the new development will have on our health services. Some local GP surgeries are already refusing to take new patients from the Hillside area.

“Unlike the radio masts site this development makes no provision at all for primary health care. Rugby is one of the fastest growing towns in the Midlands and yet wards at St Cross are being closed and moved fifteen miles away to Coventry.”


Richard Dickson, the Liberal Democrats’ parliamentary candidate for Kenilworth and Southam, highlighted the impact of the proposed development on traffic in Dunchurch.

He said: “Should this development go ahead the Dun Cow junction in Dunchurch will become still more congested at peak time. This area already has the lowest air quality in the Rugby borough area and more traffic can only make this worse.”

The developer’s own traffic models suggest the development would add an extra 600 car trips to the evening rush hour with traffic on Ashlawn Road up by a quarter and greater pressure on side roads with Bawnmore Road traffic up a quarter too and a 60 per cent increase in traffic on Percival Road.

The petition has been handed in to the borough council.

Last August David Wilson Homes put in an application to develop 860 houses on land between Hillside and the Rugby Water Tower off Ashlawn Road. No date has yet been set for the application to be heard by the borough council’s planning committee.

Advertising

Advertise with the Rugby Observer to reach your audience

Public Notices

View and download all of the public notices in the Rugby Observer.

Online Editions

Catch up on your local news by reading our e-editions on the Rugby Observer.

Subscribe

Receive a weekly update to your inbox by signing up to our weekly newsletter.