More than 500 sites earmarked for development

A new Local Plan has identified more than 500 sites for development, Warwick and Stratford district councils have said.

The authorities, which last year applied to the Government for permission to merge to create a South Warwickshire District Council, are working together to produce a new South Warwickshire Local Plan.

The plan will set out the planning policies that the councils will use to assess applications for development, as well as identifying sites to meet future needs to support housing, jobs, infrastructure and open space.

A ‘Scoping’ and ‘Call for Sites’ consultation ran for six weeks in May and June last year as a first stage in the plan making process.

Information relating to that consultation has now been published, including an interactive map that charts the 555 sites suggested for potential development.

The list of sites submitted for consideration are “in no way an endorsement by either council”, the authorities said, and that their inclusion means they are either suitable for development or will be included within the Local Plan itself.

The next stage of the plan preparation will include a full public consultation.

Cllr Daren Pemberton, deputy leader of Stratford-on-Avon District Council, said: “I am grateful to everyone who took the time to respond to the scoping first stage of the preparation of the new South Warwickshire Local Plan. Publishing all of the comments and an analysis of the key themes arising from the consultation is important in keeping everyone engaged in the process and it illustrates how the Councils will use the feedback to help inform the next stage of the plan’s preparation – the Issues and Options consultation.

“A large number of sites have been submitted through the call for sites exercise and officers will now be assessing each of the sites submitted to consider their potential as a future development or other land use site within the Local Plan. It is important to stress that at this point in time these assessments have not yet been undertaken, once completed this analysis of the call for site submissions will be published.”

Warwick District Council’s John Cooke added: “The South Warwickshire Local Plan will be critically important in the shaping of future development of the area over the next 30 years. We are therefore grateful to all those who have contributed to this vital first stage. Now this preparatory work has been done we can start the process of identifying and considering options of how and where we can meet the combined housing, employment, educational, leisure and other infrastructure needs for the future.”