Rugby Borough Council gets monster petition to save Ashlawn Fields

Over one thousand people have now signed a petition to save Ashlawn Fields from development and this was handed into Rugby Borough Council last week.

Cllr Bill Lewis (Lib Dem, Rokeby & Overslade) explained "Rugby Borough Council has already granted planning permission for 6,000 houses to be built on the radio masts site. 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".

Newly elected Cllr Marion Nash (Lib Dem, Rokeby & Overslade) 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".

You can see Bill Lewis and Marion Nash speaking about the petition here: http://www.rugbyadvertiser.co.uk/news/local-news/video-more-than-1-000-people-sign-a-petition-against-ashlawn-road-housing-development-1-6755821 .

Cllrs Nash and Lewis organised the petition in their roles as ward councillors for Rokeby & Overslade ward.

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% increase in traffic on Percival Road.

To read more about the proposed scheme or to comment on it visit Rugby Borough Council's website at http://www.rugby.gov.uk/planning and use the planning application number R13/2102.