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DEADLINE 19TH FEBRUARY 2024

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With Burbage already being an overcrowded village, with few main routes in and out of the local area - congestion is already a huge issue for the village. Coventry Road, being the centre of Burbage, sees double parking and long queues at all hours of the day, which will not be helped by an influx of new residents who have no choice but to travel through this already frustrating route. Locals often find their cars damaged due to lack of parking and poor care given by those who pass through, adding more traffic to this poses serious danger to locals; young and old. 

Not only congestion, but our schools and doctors already struggle to cope with the number of residents in the area already. 422 new developments could see a potential additional 1,200 residents in Burbage who all need to register with their nearest surgery - The Burbage Surgery. This surgery is a small dwelling with around 20 parking spaces and certainly does not have the capacity to take on such an influx of patients. This will undoubtedly create more strain on our already struggling NHS, with longer wait times almost certain. It is already unlikely that a sick resident will receive a doctors appointment / any form of care on the same day as querying. Statically this is likely to double wait times for appointments and reduce confidence in our local services, with face-to-face appointments becoming a rarity. 

With the statistics of new residents already noted, we can already begin to create a picture on how the local schooling will be affected. The two local schools are Sketchley Hill Primary School and Burbage (Infants and Junior) Schools, between them housing approximately 600-700 pupils each. To accommodate for additional child education, both schools would need to build an additional 2-3 classrooms each to allow for the influx, with many families still remaining unsuccessful in achieving their catchment school. In the current financial economy, building more classrooms and increased staffing isn’t an option for public schools. 

My next point discusses the lack of consideration towards natural habitats of local wildlife, and the deforestation of green spaces - all increasingly necessary if the United Kingdom is aiming for Net Zero within 50 years. The fields proposed house an array of wildlife which will undoubtedly be displaced under the construction of 422 homes. It is not uncommon to see rabbits, foxes, moles, birds of prey, blue tits, great tits, robins, magpies along with much smaller wildlife in and amongst this natural space. By constructing on this site, we ruin the biodiversity of the area and in turn contribute to sealing the grim fate of our planet, selfishly destroyed by human activity. 

My final point in objection to such a substantial build is safety concerns on a multitude of fronts. Most importantly, distance from the dangers (motorways and powerlines), with a vast amount of these houses coming under the “affordable housing” schemes, we can expect to see an influx of young families with children who run the risk of causing serious injury of fatal accidents through sheer curiosity of the busy roads or live powerlines. These powerlines often require monitoring and maintenance from the area, with low flying helicopters equipped to deal with potential errors. My question to the developers is, why build a housing estate through such dangerous, and obviously faulty eyesores? Especially where children’s young lives are at risk. 

To further my point on safety, this development is planned to reach right up to the motorway, where children will always find their way to access the dangerous high speed M69 on the other side of their residential fence. We often see tragic accidents happening of children playing “Chicken” or trying to impress their peers by “acting cool” or “showing off” engaging in life-threatening activities, examples including the tragic story of 15 year old Roxy Philip’s who suffered life changing injuries whilst playing on electrified rail lines. Roxy experienced 750 volts through her body whilst stepping on her local train tracks and suffers now with frequent hospital visits. A similar scenario is likely to happen with warning signs on the M69 often alight showing “Report of Pedestrians”, this is likely to only ever be more common. 

To summarise my points, there are a multitude of reasons why 422 dwellings is not suitable for the local area including: congestion, public services, environmental damage and overall safety of residents. Facebook groups are already in discussion against these dwellings. This petition will later be submitted to the council alongside these complaints.

#Stop422