With a falling birth rate, and a crunch on jobs reducing the need for migrant labour, perhaps the government should be revising their approach to housing needs requirements in the long term.

In the short term, our youngsters, if they are lucky enough to have jobs, cannot afford the deposit on a new house. They are too busy paying off a variety of loans needed to support them through university.

Rented housing seems to be in good supply, perhaps more investment in improving the quality of existing housing would be a more welcomed solution.

People need green open space to ensure their welbeing. You had it when you were a youngster why suggest depriving other people of the same opportunity?

Why settle for a future of pockets set aside for nature and leisure, threaded together with wildlife corridors, when we currently have nature, leisure, landscape with outstanding character for the area, and sustainable agriculture, all available on our doorsteps.

It is not sustainable, to have to drive to National Nature Reserves, National Parks or far flung corners of the British Isles to enjoy the countryside, youngsters need areas to explore nearby.

There are a lot of issues concerning the way that our money is managed, but lets not use that old chestnut to water down this debate, it may not be the Cairngorms, Peak District or the South Downs, but a stroll by public footpath from Brookford Avenue to Corley Rocks has a lot going for it.

Rolling hills, quaint country lanes, arable and pasture land, horses, woodland, streams, fresh air, views over the city in the distance, and loads of wildlife.

All of this should not be sacrificed without good reason.

So where is the evidence?

Volume car production has gone and unfortunately the city is no longer the great manufacturing base that it used to be. Sadly, there are no large amounts of new jobs on the way for Coventry.

The Homefire plant has now gone, not to be replaced by a wildlife park, but instead by a load of great big sheds - in terms of jobs per square kilometre, not an efficient use of land.

The government is telling the city that it needs more houses, but the numbers do not add up. There are and will be no vast numbers of new jobs for the owners of these new homes to go to. There is no real need for more houses in Coventry and we certainly do not need to build on green belt.

the city council has a record of building wonderful “look what we’ve done” projects but ignores the real needs of the residents. We need a well-maintained road infrastructure and clean streets - neither are evident at the moment. The whole city and all the services provided by the council seem to be falling apart through lack of maintenance. If built, what will this “Eco Suburb” look like in 10 years?

I suspect that the only people that will benefit from these new homes, if built, will be the developers and certain councillors with their own vested interests.

I grew up around Keresley, I know the area very well and spent a lot of my formative years in the woods and fields off the Tamworth Road, Bennets Road and Five Field Road. I have very fond memories of the place, especially in winter, when the place was jumpin’ with redwings and fieldfares. Snipe in the ponds and ditches, hares running between the fields, fox cubs under the rhododendrons up at “Doctors House”. Muntjac opposite the Horse and Jockey. If anybody has a nostalgic interest in the Keresley countryside, I would be in the first rank. Buit that’s all it is, nostalgia.

Assuming all brown field sites in the area have been allocated to housing, then it’s inevitable that housing authoirities will need to consider nibbling away at the fringes of - let’s face it - a fairly mediocre bit of countryside. It’s not The Peak District, it’s not the Brecon Beacons, Dartmoor, Exmoor, The Lakes or any one of a host of areas of outstanding natural beauty.

And before people strart screaming cliches like “once it’s gone, it’s gone for ever” and “we’re a crowded little island”, you should get out more. Take a trip to Kent and try and find Betteshangar Colliery, there’s nothing there now. Its a haven for wildlife. Vast open countryside and seascapes all the way to Holland!

This country, mainly thanks to huge landowners like the Church of England and corporate farmers, has more green spaces than many people realise. Pop down to Baginton and buy yourself an hour in the air, then you’ll see enough greenbelts for every genuine countrylover. Huge tracts of unspoilt countryside. Anyone would think from reading this thread that you are all arguing over the last blade of grass in the UK. Get some proportion and perspective into your arguments.

But then I suspect many complainants are less countrylovers than people with an irrational axe to grind about their individual vested interests.

People need houses, that’s the priority. People, not ponies for Jessica and Tarquin. People.

You’d be better off spending your campaigning energies on lobbying your local elected representatives (and second rate non-entity prospective candidates) about the state of the roads down there. It’s like a third world country. Get your elected councillors to put their collective hands in their pockets (if they haven’t already spent the public purse - your money, by the way) on foreign jollies, expensive “consultants” or lavish “communications” telling you what a good job their doing with your money!

Simples!

Discuss.

http://www.petitiononline.com/cov1/petition.html

It’s probably too late to add your voice - they were expecting signatures by May 6th, but I guess anything extra can help.

Cov Kid

Perhaps as Coventry people we get what we deserve?

Remember, once the green belt is gone, it’s gone FOREVER

Regarding the traffic, we’ve noticed that since the Ricoh Arena shopping site started up, along with the take up of SAT NAV, the traffic in the area on most of the main roads has at least trebled in the last four years or so.
If you ever see those traffic counters and speed recorders collecting information at the wrong time - holidays etc - when they should be operating at the busiest times, I’d advise to take a knife to the black pipes that go across the road - they are just tubes and the system works on air pressure in the tube when a vehicle crosses - then the system would have to be set up again in order that the data can be collected.