Residents have been given assurances a bus gate to serve the Kings Hill housing development will not be used as a busy access route for bulldozers and diggers.

The major residential scheme will see 4,000 homes built by 2050 on land between the Finham area of Coventry and neighbouring Kenilworth in Warwick district.

A bus gate is to be created on Green Lane to provide access to the Kings Hill site for public transport, pedestrians and cyclists. The bus gate was given planning permission on Christmas Eve, 2021, with a condition the work must be started within five years.

The developer, Lioncourt, has now started creating the bus gate to meet the five-year deadline which expires at the end of 2026. It says it hopes to carry out work over the summer holidays so it does not impact nearby schools.

But residents in Finham fear the bus gate will be used for construction traffic to access the Kings Hill site and have criticised a lack of communication and information from the developers.

A petition of 612 signatures, sponsored by Cllr Mattie Heaven, urged the city council to get work halted on the bus gate until more details were provided.

It asked the council "to instruct that there will be there will be no further work to be carried out on the bus gate in Green Lane until a suitable construction access route has been agreed and made public to the Kings Hill development and until detailed building plans have been made available and also made public."

A meeting this week of the cabinet member for city services, Cllr Patricia Hetherton, heard the bus gate could not be halted because it has formal consent but added that council would have direct control of the work, because its own labour force was carrying it out on behalf of Lioncourt.

A report to the meeting assured worried residents: "This work is being undertaken in advance of works starting on the main development site itself, but the city council has made it clear that the bus gate is not intended for any other vehicles, particularly construction vehicles.

"The main site will be developed in due course, and several conditions will need to be discharged, by Warwick District Council, before it can proceed. One condition relates to the construction management plan for the Kings Hill site. The city council will be consulted on this plan prior to it being approved and will certainly oppose the use of Green Lane by construction traffic associated with the Kings Hill development.

"The Green Lane works will be undertaken by the council's direct labour organisation, on behalf of Lioncourt, giving the council direct control over the construction management under the provisions of a legally binding highway works agreement. Even so, several stipulations have been requested, and agreed, relating to the movement of construction vehicles and clearing of mud from the highway, to ensure highway safety."

Council transport officers told the meeting the bus gate was needed to serve Kings Hill with public transport while maintaining current bus routes on Green Lane for the area's existing residents.

Representatives of the developers gave a reassurance at the meeting that there will be no construction traffic using the bus gate.

Cabinet member Cllr Hetherton made a plea for greater communication from the developers so that the local community knew exactly what was happening.

What local councillors said

Paul Davies, chairman of Finham Parish Council, said the bus gate plan should be scrapped as unnecessary and told the meeting: "The levels of grave concern over this proposal can be seen by the huge response to the petition.

"Buses do not have to enter Kings Hill via a bus gate along Green Lane, especially one adjacent to our primary school, which brings with it added vehicle hazards and pollution.

"In order for buses to enter and leave Kings Hill, the most sensible solution is for this access to happen at the junction of Kings Hill Lane, Green Lane, Howes Lane, and St Martin's Road. The buses would loop around the estate and exit at the same point. It will mean that one of the most popular stops on the No9 route, the shops on Green Lane, will not be missed out due to new bus routeing."

He added: "Decisions are being made and not directly communicated for what is a massive housing development two-and-a-half times the size of Finham, which in itself should entitle the residents to notice of what is happening."

He said there had been "absolutely nil" communication from developers and residents had been shocked to find a 500-year-old oak tree and ancient hedgerow had been chopped down with no advance notice.

Cllr Davies said construction and site clearance vehicles must not be allowed to use the gap left by the loss of the tree and hedgerow to get on and off the Kings Hill site.

Cllr Mattie Heaven, who sponsored the petition, told the meeting: "Many residents have contacted me because they are worried that Green Lane, which serves schools, families and an established residential community, could become a route for construction traffic."

She welcomed confirmation that construction traffic would not use Green Lane but was concerned that a construction management plan had not yet been approved to show where site vehicles would go.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service after the meeting, she said: "Residents need an unequivocal guarantee that Green Lane will never be used as a construction access route for the Kings Hill development. With two schools on Green Lane, traffic congestion is already a daily challenge for local families. Our community should not be expected to bear the additional burden of construction traffic.

"Communication with residents should never be an afterthought. I hope this marks the beginning of a more open and constructive dialogue."

What the developers said

Andy Faizey, speaking on behalf of Lionscourt, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "Lioncourt has been working with both Coventry City Council and Warwickshire County Council to agree the design of the bus gate onto Green Lane.

"We have now entered a Section 278 Agreement with Coventry City Council relating to that part of the gate that sits within Coventry and permitted under the Coventry planning permission, a construction management plan for which has previously been approved by the council.

"We have further agreed to place the work contract with Coventry's own direct labour organisation which will afford the council greater control over the work being undertaken. That work is due to commence in mid-August and will last for a number of weeks. We look forward to working with the parish council and keeping them informed of progress.'