Threatening our village life

This application threatens the very existence of Baginton as a village and would seriously damage surrounding villages of Bubbenhall and Stoneleigh.

Amid the mountain of documentation associated with the application are documents on ‘Green Infrastructure Strategies’ and a ‘Biodiversity offsetting report’. These are so complicated that even the landscape consultant employed by Warwick District Council has suggested that this quite technical report is translated into a more generalised ‘ecological strategy’ with maps to identify the locations of habitats lost and those to be replaced.

In brief ‘biodiversity offsetting’ is a pilot scheme or experiment, being promoted by Coventry City Council and others. It is a measure that allows the developer to put a monetary value on the ecological damage caused by destruction of ancient woodland, hedgerows, trees and field systems.

This can then be offset by the cost of landscape bunds, tree planting and a footpath cycleway in a country park that will take at least 25 years to establish, if at all, as there are no guarantees.

The biodiversity bankers then reconcile the accounts and the, would be, developer of Gateway and CoventryAirport simply signs a cheque to compensate for the deficit and sends in the bulldozers.

Of course Coventry City Council have already rubber stamped this application for their part and highly recommended it to Warwick District Council and the residents of Baginton who’s bio-diverse environment is really at stake.

So I ask, Will Baginton survive this Piece of Reconciliation?

The answer is; only if Warwick district councillors have the wisdom to say NO to GATEWAY

David G Wintle, Chantry Heath Lane, Stoneleigh