WEDDINGTON CASTLE - An Online History

CASTLE HISTORY - Part X

The Future?

One final point to be made: Weddington village and its estate - in the past as now - was always as much about the green spaces in between the buildings as the buildings themselves. Whilst housing development has cut back on this greenery since the start of the twentieth century, this once rural hamlet is fortunate to have retained at least some of its meadows and fieldland.

If the historical account contained within this website tells us one thing, it is this: we should never take the land upon which we live for granted. A disturbing conclusion to this history is that, as ever, land is a valuable commodity - and more lucrative than historical or natural preservation.  Several years ago, much of the remaining green belt around Weddington was threatened with housing development. After sustained residential opposition this proposal was quietly dropped by Warwickshire County Council.

However, in 2004 a piece of enabling work was done by the council to downgrade this open green field land from the status as “Area of Restraint”. This would allow any developer wishing to build on it to do so, given planning permission. Given this downgrading council planning permission would not be a problem. The report commissioned by the council where this downgrade was proposed states:

“It would appear that although the open land in this area is serving as a pseudo green wedge, this is a result of chance, rather than due to any carefully thought out land management strategy. It is similarly hard to find evidence, other than providing a visual amenity value for the few residents fortunate enough to look upon it, that the area provides any public benefit e.g. there are no public rights of way in the area. Development at Weddington turns its back on the area”.

I shall leave the final word on this worrying development to Peter Lee, Chairman of the Nuneaton Society:

"This makes chilling reading. Such a statement could be used as reason for turning the Coventry- Bedworth-Nuneaton wedge into one giant city. I feel sorry for the residents of Weddington whose environment includes open views over green vistas. You bought your house in the country with its visual amenity value, but the council are now minded to take it away from you. Oh, and by the way, the residents of Weddington have turned their back on the area!

The fact is we just do not need so many houses. Nuneaton’s population growth is actually slowing down. You can guarantee they will not be the sorts of homes for our real requirements, for first time buyers or low cost social housing.... where are all the extra school children going to be taught?

Do not think that this proposal will stay that way for any length of time. Already I can detect the developers circling to buy the land up. With this sort of thing tomorrow is often too late. You can be wrong-footed by the council and with a blink of an eye the deals are done and you will have no say."

In 2006, despite a certain amount of local opposition, this area was indeed downgraded. It seems the main instigators of this downgrading are a property development company, so the future of this historically valuable area would still seem to hang in the balance. 

In 2009 the borough council was told by the government that it has to build 10,800 more homes by 2026 and could also have to accommodate a 3,500 overspill from Coventry. Proposals were drafted to build thousands of new homes on Green Belt land in Nuneaton and Bedworth. Weddington, Bedworth Woodlands and Keresley on the fringes of Coventry are three of the areas most affected. This, coupled with the recent housing estate built upon the site of the Fox and Crane (formerly The Grove), makes for depressing reading. As of 2011 the so-called "transformation" of the Grove  - the last major surviving building from the Castle estate - has yet to happen. It remains a sad shell: exposed to the elements, daubed with graffiti and with no obvious work going on with it, surrounded by largely empty new houses which have failed to sell. Apparently at least one new house will need to be demolished as it contravenes planning regulations.

In 2011 Weddington Village once again came under threat from developers: in March, Hallam Land Management announced plans to build 326 new houses on Church fields next to St James' historic Church in the village. A local campaign was set up to oppose these plans called S.W.O.R.D - Save Weddington: Oppose the Residential Development, with a website at www.saveweddington.org.uk.

Thanks to public support, these plans were narrowly REFUSED by the Council Planning Committee on 17th August 2011. The threat of development remains however, and SWORD vowed to lobby the Council for a Local Plan that meets the needs of the people of the Borough - not commercial developers.

Tomorrow has indeed proved too late for much of Weddington's heritage. Much the same can be said for the heritage of this nation as a whole. It would be tragic indeed if we were to stand by and let yet more of our legacy slip away without question.