A rethinking of the green belt has been called for by the leader of Warwick District Council in the week that it launched the latest stage of its joint South Warwickshire Local Plan with neighbours Stratford District Council.

More than 1,600 homes across the two areas will need to be built each year until 2050 according to figures commissioned by all local authorities in Coventry and Warwickshire and that could lead to new settlements being planned with up to 6,000 homes.

Cllr Andrew Day said: "I think most people do not understand what green belt is. Coventry Airport is designated as green belt – it is not green space, it is open space.

"I would like an expansion or modernisation of the green belt which is meant to provide openness between settlements. Where is the green belt between Wellesbourne and Bishop's Tachbrook because of the amount of development coming that way?

"We need to think again about where green belt is needed for settlements in South Warwickshire rather than trying to defend something that was established post war when the world was very different."

Cllr Daren Pemberton, deputy leader of Stratford District Council, added: "The clue is in the title, they were meant to be a green belt around the cities to stop urban sprawl. We want to protect the value of the green belt but does that mean we are going to protect every single acre of it – not necessarily."

A proportion of all new housing across the area is currently earmarked as affordable housing – 40 per cent in Warwick and 35 per cent in Stratford. And while those percentages could change when the new local plan is adopted, Cllr Day said such policies have helped deal with homelessness.

He added: "There has been an enormous benefit in that our housing waiting list is down by a third since May 2019 principally because we have been building so many affordable houses and that did not stop during the pandemic.

"The University of Warwick has one of the lowest local retention rates for graduates and one of the principal reasons is the price of housing around here.

"So if we had more affordable housing we might retain more graduates from the university with more new business starts which improves our economic prospects longer term."

Cllr Pemberton went on: "We have businesses in Warwick and Stratford district whose growth is being hamstrung by an inability to find affordable housing for their employees. The downside is that those businesses then leave the district. That is why it is important that this local plan thinks more broadly than housing."