Plans for huge home development scheme in Coventry rejected (5/11/22)

Image of the proposed housing site near Abbotts Lane and Upper Hill Street in Coventry (Via Coventry City Council, CDP).

A revised application for redeveloping a vacant brown field site in Coventry has been rejected for the second time, despite being recommended for approval.

The hybrid plan looked to build seven blocks of flats for residential purposes, varying in height between four and 21 storeys at Abbotts Lane in Coundon.

This was supported by Coventry City Council officers, during Thursday afternoon’s meeting (November 3rd).

A previous application for outline permission of a 731 unit home-scheme by Complex Development Projects (CDP) was refused on the site last January.

Within the new plans, full permission was sought for 212 units to be provided on plots three and four (noted below), where designs of the layout, scale, appearance, housing mix and associated infrastructure was detailed.

Image of Plots 1, 2, 3 and 4 (Via Coventry City Council, CDP).

The outline part of the application that was brought forward proposed the remaining 478 dwellings in plots one and two, providing details only regarding access.

There were three access points discussed which would have served the development, two from Abbotts Lane, providing access in and out of the site, and also one onto Upper Hill Street, which would have only been used as an exit from the development.  

Councillor Gavin Lloyd, who opposed the proposal and sponsored two petitions against it, said the following: “The last time that this application came forward, we had the Upper Hill Street possibility in paper, but that wasn’t the case this time.”

Image of Cllr Gavin Lloyd (Via Coventry City Council).

The scheme also aimed to consider the parking provisions, access of public transport, as well as the walking and cycling routes to key services, as they could influence how people decide to travel.

Within the application, examples were discussed that suggested people living in or near the city centre are less likely to be reliant on car use, hence there would be a reduced need for car parking compared to the less accessible areas of the city.

From this, the proposal looked to provide 239 parking spaces as part of the development to serve the 690 units that were scheduled for construction.

The document went on to state: ‘This now provides, following the reduction in the number of units through the process of the application, 34.5 per cent of the units with a car parking space. The level of parking previously offered in the application which was refused was 26.5 per cent.

A CGI-generated image of the proposed development (Via Coventry City Council, CDP).

‘Whilst there has clearly been an acknowledgement from the developer to the concerns raised by increasing the level of parking, the 8 per cent increase has been made whilst still acknowledging the other factors and considerations that can’t be ignored. They need to be taken into consideration such as traffic congestion, air quality, health issues and promotion of sustainable travel.’

On the other hand, many concerns remained over the lack of planning for parking, pollution and overdevelopment in the area; of which Councillor Gavin Lloyd also discussed: “Cars are still the favoured method of transportation, and until that fully changes, we need to have more parking spaces on site to deal with any changes suggested for these areas.”

Despite the amendments that had been made to the plans since last year’s rejection, both local citizens and members of the council’s Planning Committee were still not convinced, with four votes against the plan, and one vote in abstention.