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ID sylw: 108038

Derbyniwyd: 07/03/2025

Ymatebydd: CEG Land Promotion III (UK) Limited

Asiant : Nexus Planning

CEG supports the Plan’s Vision and objectives, which determine how development will be delivered. CEG’s proposals for land east of Gaydon are considered against each of these principles to demonstrate how the site’s development can help to achieve the vision.
A climate resilient and Net Zero Carbon South Warwickshire – The J12 Proposals will contribute to a low carbon and climate resilient development from construction to occupation through sustainable materials and construction techniques, renewable energy measures, sustainable drainage systems within a comprehensive blue-green infrastructure network and mobility strategy. As set out within the Sustainability Statement that accompanied the planning application, development of the site will seek to ensure:
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Buildings will be designed to reduce carbon emissions in accordance with anticipated changes to the Building Regulations through the use of energy hierarchy, using a fabric first approach to design to reduce energy demand, helping mitigate the effects of climate change;
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The development will achieve a minimum BREEAM standard of 'Very Good', and exceed this where viable; and
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Buildings designed to take into account increasing annual temperatures set out in the UKCP18 climate projections to minimise the risk of overheating.
Moreover, the site is situated in a sustainable location being strategically placed next to the new settlement Lighthorne Heath, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) and Aston Martin Lagonda (AML). Furthermore, the site provides the opportunity to introduce an integrated transport network including the provision of demand response transport (DRT), which could be funded through Section 106 contributions. This will influence and change travel behaviour of commuters to and from the site and neighbouring sites such as that of JLR, and to benefit from new and existing residents in the vicinity of the site i.e., within Gaydon and Lighthorne Heath.
To summarise, the site can improve existing infrastructure and generally promote a culture of change towards active travel which in turn aids the climate resilience of South Warwickshire.
A well-designed and beautiful South Warwickshire – Development at the site, as evidenced by the planning application documentation, could provide a mix of commercial units all designed to the highest standard. Moreover, the J12 Proposals could include a publicly accessible parkland and provide substantial landscape areas, enhancing visual and physical connections.
A healthy, safe and inclusive South Warwickshire – Development within the site provides the opportunity to provide an accessible parkland which will provide health and wellbeing benefits through the provision of more
recreational space for the surrounding area including the residents of Gaydon and employees of the surrounding employment. This will help to foster a cohesive working environment which will support health and wellbeing.
A well-connected South Warwickshire - The site is located in an inherently sustainable location for commercial development. The M40 provides a direct route to Banbury to the south-east and Warwick to the north-west. Banbury benefits from a railway station as does Warwick. There are two bus stops along the B4100 adjacent to the Site that provide services to Temple Herdewyke, Avon Dassett, Leamington Spa, Milverton and Banbury Town Centre.
A biodiverse and environmentally resilient South Warwickshire – As demonstrated through the planning application for the site, a 10% Biodiversity net gain can be achieved on site. The accompanying illustrative landscape masterplan for the site will retain existing landscape features including hedgerows and tree belts and, in addition, shows a considerable biodiversity parkland, public parkland, and a network of swales.
SWLP Strategic Objectives
The Plan includes 12 strategic objectives which reflect the area’s social, environmental and economic issues. Where relevant, CEG provide comment below on how development at land east of Gaydon can help to meet the Plan’s objectives:
SO1: Providing sustainable levels of growth in the area
The Core Strategy recognises the importance of the area, specifically stating that:
“The Gaydon Site is a key economic asset within the District and the wider region, employing several thousand people, together with indirect employment in relation to logistics and suppliers. The site is located adjacent to an established highway network, including the M40 which is an important transport gateway into Coventry and Warwickshire.”
The importance of this location is further reflected in both the emerging SWLP and the December 2023 and South Warwickshire Economic Strategy. The SWLP Preferred Options document identifies the Gaydon Area/M40 Junction 12 as a Major Investment Site which sits within a wider ‘Economic Core Opportunity Area’. This area includes Gaydon and the M40 corridor and comprises the main towns of Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwick, Whitnash, Leamington Spa and Kenilworth, the A46 corridor, the University of Warwick’s two campuses, Long Marston Garden Village and Rail Innovation Centre and Stoneleigh Park.
Draft Policy Direction 13 of the SWLP also confirms the area will be the focus for new employment development in the South Warwickshire Area, building on existing employment hubs, harnessing the potential offered by co-locating businesses and research facilities and support the strategy for attracting significant inward investment to the area. The South Warwickshire Economic Strategy identifies the same area as ‘Core Investment Opportunity Area’. The focus for the area is attracting inward investment to drive the South Warwickshire economy as well as encouraging inward investment in the most accessible parts of South Warwickshire. Indeed, the emerging South Warwickshire Economic Strategy confirms this area is likely to provide “the focus for attracting strategically significant inward investment to drive forward the South Warwickshire economy, whilst acknowledging national and local planning policies (e.g. Green Belt)”.
The SWLP preferred options also identifies the M40/A46 corridor as a Road Opportunity Area based on the West Midlands Strategic Employment Sites Study (WMSESS) which recommends the identification of 1-2 mixed/B8 sites and 1 B2 site to deliver 125 ha of strategic employment i.e. sites of over 25 ha and largely dedicated to units of over 9,300sqm. This clearly recognises the potential of this corridor to play an enhanced role in delivering strategic economic growth in South Warwickshire.
SG13 is located close to the principal design and engineering centre for Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) and Aston Martin Lagonda (AML). Directly to the north-east of the Site is 100ha of land specifically allocated for the expansion JLR in
the Stratford-on-Avon Core Strategy under Policy CS.22 and policy GLH (Gaydon/Lighthorne Heath now known as “Upper Lighthorne Heath”).
To the north-east, beyond the JLR/AML site, is Lighthorne Heath, a historically small village built to originally support RAF Gaydon which now comprises a mixture of private and social housing together with a 3000 dwelling new settlement.
731 homes are now occupied within the new settlement (December 2024) and therefore with a community quickly becoming established. Indeed, completions are taking place at a pace beyond that envisaged within the Core Strategy. This strong delivery accelerates the need to provide a wider range of jobs within the immediate locality to support the sustainable growth of the area.
The Core Strategy recognises the eventual sustainability and significance of Lighthorne Heath through the supporting text to policy CS.15, which confirms that;
“In terms of the settlement pattern across the District, the new settlements will become the equivalents of a Main Rural Centre and complement their role.”
The settlement hierarchy for Stratford-on-Avon District clearly recognises the transformative nature of this new settlement to the local area. It is therefore considered that given the existing and anticipated future rate of completions and the services and facilities now being delivered on the at the allocation, Lighthorne Heath should be considered as a Main Rural Centre within the settlement hierarchy, alongside Alcester, Bidford-on-Avon, Henley-in-Arden, Kineton, Shipston-on-Stour, Southam, Studley and Wellesbourne.
AML’s headquarters within Gaydon provide the main production facility together with research and development. Further to Aston Martin Lagonda’s presence, JLR operate their advanced design and engineering centre at Gaydon. The design and research centre and extensive test track facilities have been established over the last 30 years.
The Site is therefore strategically positioned to drive significant inward investment within this ‘Core Economic Area’, supporting the automotive cluster whilst also increasing the provision of jobs, complimenting the role of Upper Lighthorne in the settlement hierarchy.
SO3: Providing infrastructure in the right place at the right time & S011: Connecting people to places
Significant investment has been made to highway infrastructure around J12 of the M40. Development at Junction 12 is there an appropriate location for employment development to come forward now as there is existing capacity on the highway network and delivery is not reliant on significant upgrades to the Junction. The SWLP recognises that significant upgrades would be required to facilitate the strategic employment growth options identified at Junction 13 (Land at Red House Farm) and 15 (Wedgnock Park Farm). This is not the case at J12 where the only major new investment in the medium / long term would be a new northern slip road onto the M40 that can be delivered on land within the full control of CEG and National Highways.
The application for the J12 Proposals sets out that the proposed development will introduce an integrated transport network including the provision of DRT, which would be funded through Section 106 contributions. Whilst this is specific for the planning application it demonstrates that commercial development in this location can support innovative sustainable transportation initiatives.
DRT can provide a modern, user-orientated form of public transport, with flexible routing, pick-up and drop-off locations, and timetabling matched to passenger needs. DRT is typically app based and can provide a convenient, flexible service. DRT vehicles are typically executive minibus services with air conditioning, WiFi, and table seats within a wide area, providing timely and convenient services connecting the site to local employment areas and public transport hubs.
Based on experience of large employment sites, DRT proposals are usually well received as they provide benefits over fixed time, fixed route buses in terms of convenience and linking bus journeys to specific destinations. For example, DRT works well with shift patterns starting / finishing at unsociable hours of the day when traditional
public transport services would be infrequent as in the case with this site. DRT would provide future employees with an alternative transport option in the region compared to the fixed time, fixed route buses and has the potential for wider benefits locally with DRT schemes typically operating within a 15-20 km radius.
A DRT service will have wider benefits beyond the proposed development itself in terms of providing additional public transport opportunities that are arguably more convenient than fixed route / fixed time buses, for a wider population in this area of Warwickshire. DRT is also well suited to shift patterns specifically related to the proposed development. The site masterplan includes an area for a bus to turn within the site and this provides a central pickup location without any blocking of the internal roads. Developer funding is proposed to support the operation of the DRT service. Transport initiatives such as DRT are much more viable within the context of a concentrated critical mass of employment such as at Junction 12, Gaydon.
SO4: Developing opportunities for jobs
The site would generate significant local employment of significant benefit to the local economy. Economic modelling undertaken in support of the planning application for the J12 Proposals has confirmed that the development of the site could generate in the region of 1,786 full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs on site. The approximate operational economic output (GVA) is estimated at £394 million. This would make a significant contribution to the Stratford-on-Avon economy, provide a number of employment opportunities and help the economy to diversify. Securing these employment opportunities is critical, particularly following the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. Indeed, Stratford-on-Avon District Council have suggested that the District has been the fourth most adversely affected authority from COVID. The jobs created as a result of the Proposed Development will help the economy to recover. It should also be stated that the Government, since being elected in July 2024, have placed an important new emphasis on growth and economic development with this being their number 1 mission for the next parliamentary term.
It is evident from the HEDNA that there has been a shortfall in the supply of B8 floorspace within the District. The provision of further flexible space that is capable of providing space for storage and distribution (B8 use) alongside General Industrial (B2) will help to provide jobs to diversify and strengthen the local economy.
At a national level the logistics sector has played an important role in providing jobs, it has seen job growth at a higher rate than across the economy as a whole. Furthermore, as technological advancements have continued there has been a greater focus on the use of innovative, cutting-edge technology which has resulted in considerably higher skilled jobs than may have been the case previously. This has been confirmed through the Department for Transport “Future of Freight” report published in June 2022 which states:
“Since 2010, the number of jobs in transport and storage has grown by 26% compared to only 14% across the whole economy. There is increasing sophistication of roles in the sector with Professional and Associate Professional and Technical roles increasing by 331,000 since 2010. Meanwhile in 2021, the number of UK businesses classified as transport and storage was 88% higher than in 2011, with fastest growth in the Midlands, East of England, Yorkshire and The Humber”
Further to the above, in terms of skills, The British Property Federation’s (BPF) “Levelling up - The Logic of Logistics” report published in 2022 reports substantial growth in technical and professional roles (+331,000) in the sector over the last decade.
It is anticipated that the site will provide approximately 1,786 direct full-time equivalent jobs based on the use classes proposed in the submitted planning application. In terms of B8 uses, examples of the type of jobs that will be provided on Site are set out below which are in addition to the jobs associated with class B2 and class e (g) (ii) and (iii):
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Supply chain design and planning;
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Procurement and supply management;
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Warehouse design and management;
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Distribution network design and management; and
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Inventory management and control.
The importance of logistics to the automotive sector should not be understated. The automotive industry heavily relies on automotive logistics to manage the complex supply chain involved in the production and delivery of vehicles. In this regard, they are considered synonymous and provision of B8 in this location would support existing sectors, particularly the automotive cluster at Gaydon which is identified as a core opportunity sector within the SWES.
SO8: Protecting and enhancing our heritage and cultural assets and SO12: Protecting and enhancing our environmental assets
The SWLP ensures that appropriate environmental considerations have been made when considering and assessing the options to accommodate future development. The site can also be delivered without causing significant impact on environmental assets. There are no ecologically important sites within or adjacent to the site, it lies entirely within Flood Zone 1; although there is a small area of the site to the north which is susceptible to surface water flooding. This can be satisfactorily mitigated through design, layout and specific drainage design. Development be delivered to secure the mandatory levels of biodiversity net gain (BNG), and mitigation for any protected species, should any be discovered, can be secured in any future planning application.