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ID sylw: 108160

Derbyniwyd: 05/03/2025

Ymatebydd: Bellway Homes (West Midlands)

Asiant : Cerda Planning

Bellway’s site at Bordon Hill is located within Strategic Growth Area 18 – West of Stratford-Upon- Avon Group. The site is marked with a red dot and sits immediately to the southwest of Stratford Town within non-Green Belt land. (See attachment for the maps)

The site (reference number 259) has been assessed within the HELAA part A and part B and received a score of 32.00 and remains in consideration for allocation within the emerging plan. No major constraints were identified, although it is reported that 66% of the site intersects with Landscape Descriptor Units (defined areas of land with particular landscape characteristics) (LDU) with moderate visual sensitivity and 34% of the site intersecting with LDU with low visual sensitivity.

It was noted that 68% of the site is within 800m of an existing primary school and that 100% of the site is within 15km of an existing secondary school and was noted to be accessible to local services as an edge of settlement site.
Cerda Planning has been engaging with the SWLP consultation process on behalf of Bellway Homes since the initial Scoping consultation in June 2021 (when the site was also submitted to the call for sites) and the subsequent Issues and Options consultation in January 2023. They are committed to delivering residential development on this site.
We consider the site to be wholly suitable for development and have produced technical notes in relation to landscape and visual impact and highway impact, which are attached to these representations. We are in the process of producing a site layout plan which has evolved taking into account the previous reasons for refusal 18/01664/FUL dated 5/10/2018. This demonstrates that the site could deliver 100 dwellings in a sensitive way, within an area of Stratford supported by the Councils in principle within this latest version of the Plan.
The Technical Note produced by Capricorn Transport Planning notes that the site is within close proximity to the West Shottery development, which is under construction, and which will eventually provide 800 dwellings, a new primary school and a local centre, all to be served by the West of Shottery Relief Road (which connects Evesham Road with the A46 on the western side of Stratford). It concludes that the proposed scale of development is not expected to result in material traffic flow increases on the surrounding road network. Access into the site would be

taken from Evesham Road, most likely served by a new ghost-island priority junction. The straight horizontal alignment affords good visibility in both directions with no improvements to the roads alignment to achieve satisfactory visibility. The scheme would also most likely include widening of the existing footway to provide a 3m wide shared use footpath/cycleway on the south side of Evesham Road between the site access and Luddington Road, to connect with the new roundabout.
The site is highly sustainable and lies within the 400m desirable walking distance of the nearest bus stops, which are on Evesham Road near to its junction with Limes Avenue, east of Luddington Road. The nearest existing local shops are on Evesham Road, west of the Seven Meadows Roundabout. The nearest primary school is the Shottery St Andrews school on Hathaway Lane. The proposed Shottery local centre is understood to include retail facilities, a health centre and a school. All of these facilities are within or just beyond a 1km walking radius of the site shown in the figure below. ( A wider range of services and facilities is available in the town centre which is within the 2km radius of the site. The main Stratford railway station is also within the 2km walking radius).

The nearest bus stops are located on Evesham road at the junction with Limes Avenue, and within 400m of the centre of the proposed development. Local bus services available from these stops are routes 27 and 28 which connect Stratford with Pebworth, via Welford-on-Avon and Evesham, Bidford and Stratford. Summary provided below: (See attachment for the table).

Frequent trains services from Stratford station, 2km to the north-east of the site (accessible by cycle, on-foot or using the bus) are provided to Birmingham, Leamington Spa, Worcester and London Marylebone.
Records of personal injury collision show no evidence of road-safety related issues on Evesham Road immediately adjacent to the site or at the Seven Meadows roundabout to the east.
The forecast traffic flow increases arising from the proposed development are anticipated to be modest but would be fully assessed within any future Transport Assessment. Any mitigation required is likely to be to sustainable travel infrastructure – with improvements to pedestrian, cycle and public transport infrastructure which would improve access to local facilities, bus services and the railway station.
The Landscape Summary Note provided by Goldby and Luck was prepared to support these representations following a visit to the site and surroundings in February 2025. The key points are summarised below:
• The site is located within the Avon Valley landscape character area, and more specifically the Vale Orchard Belt landscape character type. The character and qualities of Vale Orchard Belt are identified as “ An open and rolling intensively farmed landscape of large poorly defined fields, orchards and prominent hilltop woodlands.”
• The characteristic features of this landscape are identified as:
o Rising ground with large scale rolling topography
o A large scale often poorly defined field pattern
o Large orchards on hilltops and south facing slopes
o Prominent hilltop woodlands
o Steep wooded scarp slopes and associated unimproved grassland
o Varied settlement pattern of small, nucleated villages and loose clusters of roadside dwellings
o Local vernacular Blue Lias stone buildings
• The prescribed management strategy for the Vale Orchard Belt is to “Enhance the structure and unity of the landscape through large scale woodland planting.”
• At a local level, the site forms part of the farmland fringe to Stratford set within a defined framework of highways, modern housing development, ribbon development with expansive gardens, the racecourse landscape and a major commercial nursery. This framework imparts an urban fringe setting to the character of the site making it distinct from the wider setting of uninterrupted farmland that extends well beyond the settlement.
• The landscape constraints are considered to be:
o The rising landform – that continues to rise sharply to the west towards the summit of Bordon Hill which is prominent in the setting of the settlement and local landscape;
o The gateway location of the site with views both into and from the settlement along Evesham Road
o The amenity of the properties at the southern boundary residing on lower ground adjacent to Luddington Road; and
o The tree and hedgerow cover associated with the northern boundary of the site.
• In the LSA the site was assessed as part of a wider land parcel S124 and assessed as being of high sensitivity to housing land. This parcel extends well beyond the site taking the whole of Bordon hill to the west and the land extending north towards Ann Hathaway’s Cottage.
• Within the context of S124, the site comprises the lower slopes of Bordon Hill that are of a much shallower gradient, consistent with developments to the north at Whittington Way that also sit on the lower slopes of Bordon Hill seen in the same panorama to the north-east of Ann Hathaway’s Cottage.
• It is concluded that the site must be less susceptible to change in the form of a settlement extension when compared to the wider setting of parcel S124, this suggests a reduced sensitivity when compared to the wider land parcel of medium sensitivity.
• A considered development brought forward in response to the above identified landscape constraints is unlikely to result in any greater harm to the character and setting of Stratford when compared to the other opportunities for the expansion of the settlement, and recent areas of expansion to the north also set across the lower slopes of Bordon Hill.
• The adoption of a landscape led approach to development proposed secures the following benefits:
o The reinstatement of the remnant hedgerow at the western boundary with new tree planting measures to secure a defined and robust landscaped edge to the development;
o A considered layout that includes designated green space capable of securing tree planting that will mature to soften the roofscape of the development. It is envisaged that this may take the form of a green edge at the eastern boundary facing the settlement, and a gateway space within the site presenting to a highway access from Evesham Road;
o The possibility of securing new woodland planting measures that extend into the field to the west (under the same ownership)- could include orchard planting and enhancement scheme entirely consistent with the overarching landscape character
o Possible public access into the field to the west taking advantage of views back across Stratford and the wider landscape setting.
Even though the wider parcel of land in which the site sits – SG18 is not one of the top scoring parcels (against the SA objectives) noted above, the site is capable of coming forward independently as a standalone site. It provides the opportunity to extend the southern edges of Stratford-upon -Avon in a logical and sensitive manner to provide much needed dwellings in a highly sustainable location. The Council can have confidence in the deliverability of the site as it is under the control of a PLC Housebuilder who will be able to bring the site forward for development very quickly in the event that it is allocated within the emerging plan.