Coventry City Council is ‘amazed’ and ‘bitterly disappointed’ that plans to develop Coventry and Warwickshire Gateway have been rejected by Eric Pickles.

The local government minister has turned down plans to develop a 700 acre site around Coventry Airport. However, the council said the scheme would have created up to 10,000 new jobs

Cabinet member for business, enterprise and employment, Cllr Kevin Maton, said: ‘The scheme, put forward by Coventry and Warwickshire’s Local Enterprise Partnership had the potential to provide a real boost to the local economy, and I’m amazed the minister couldn’t support the plans.

‘It’s particularly disappointing news, given that Vince Cable was in the area just yesterday talking about the vital role the region and Coventry engineering expertise played in the economy nationally. This scheme would have helped support further development of this expertise while creating thousands of jobs.’

Mr Pickles said planning for the scheme had been refused mainly due to the ‘substantial Green Belt harm’ the development would cause, which were not outweighed by the benefits of the scheme.

Photo: ©Robin Stott