JUST a stone’s throw away from the historic and picturesque town of Warwick, Tournament Fields is an out of town scheme which has had more bearing on the local countryside than many may realise. TheBusinessDesk.com has a look around.
ONCE the site of a World War II dispersal aerodrome, the land where Tournament Fields now sits was used by two families for agriculture for half a century.
During the 1990s, they were made an offer they couldn’t refuse and the process of redeveloping it began.
Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey took its chunk while a further 50 acres was acquired by a joint venture between the Royal Bank of Scotland and Sackville Properties six years ago.
Reading-based developer Sackville is part of the business empire of John Madejski, the Stoke-born founder of Auto Trader and chairman of Reading FC, and its initial planning permission for the Warwick development came at a price, a hefty one.
Normal Section 106 agreements – the ‘extras’ which councils attach to proposals before granting planning consent – are often centred on improving traffic access or new community facilities such as children’s play areas.
In this instance, the council requested a remodelling of the approach to Junction 15 of the M40 at a cost of £6m to Sackville, Taylor Wimpey and the other landowners – around half of the overall total.
Finished 18 months ago, drivers venturing along the A46 towards the M40 can continue their journeys north or south without going near the once congested Junction 15 roundabout, just a short drive from Tournament Fields.
It is clearly something Sackville can point to when showing potential occupiers around, knowing the last small chunk of a commuter’s journey won’t the longest and most frustrating.
Paul Ludlow, a consultant with Sackville Properties, said: “The project came about as part of the South West Consortium and was one of the big land allocations in Warwick 15 years ago when there was a requirement to provide a 1,000-plus homes.
“The A46, in the Highway Agency’s world, is the relief for the M42 and M5 traffic heading north-east or south-west.
“This junction was terribly congested before putting these houses in was even contemplated. The Highways Agency and the Government wanted to build this but they didn’t particularly want to pay for it so you do a deal in the end.
“The remodelling has done its job as it used to be the most congested junction coming off the motorway. From our point of view, it was a lot of money but it does make the site terribly easy to get in and out of.”
Among its tenants are Catesby Property, Voith Industrial Services and Hinton Properties while Swiss sanitary company Geberit moved its UK headquarters up from Kent into a 15,000 sq ft warehouse and office unit next to the court.
There is a further 30 acres of undeveloped land, with outline permission for office, industrial and warehousing, and the potential to house up to 700,000 sq ft of units.
