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ID sylw: 108897

Derbyniwyd: 07/03/2025

Ymatebydd: Warwickshire County Council

Minerals and Waste

No objections on mineral sterilisation grounds subject to:
• Materials Management Report (for assessing the sourcing and use of construction materials including the availability of on-site materials for reuse/recycling),
• Soil Management Plan (a plan to manage all soils on site during construction)

Active Travel

This site is not well served by cycling infrastructure. National Cycle Route 48
(Farnborough to Deppers Bridge) passes through the site. It follows relatively low trafficked roads. To the south it is possible to follow NCR48 and NCR5 to connect to Banbury, but this is a circuitous and indirect route. The Edge Hill escarpment is a significant barrier to provide active travel connections to Banbury. To the north of the site NCR48 stops south of Southam, however this connection may be completed by the imminent delivery by HS2 Ltd of a new cycle route adjacent to the A423 between Ladbroke and Southam.

Once HS2 Ltd construct a new cycle route along the A423 it would be possible to connect to Southam via NCR48 however the route between Ladbroke and Southam will be a minimum standard shared use facility and as such has limited capacity.
Consideration would need to be given to upgrading this route to accommodate the additional demands the site would create and to create a more appealing route for cycling trips. In addition, the existing NCR48 will need to be maintained. This would need to include ensuring this route on low trafficked roads is not negatively impacted by increased traffic flows associated with the development. At 10km the route to Southam is likely to be at the greater end of distances people are likely to be willing to cycle for regular trips.

If the existing NCR48 route could be maintained as a low trafficked lane it may be possible to provide a connection to Southam. However, at approx. 10km and requiring users to mix with traffic it seems unlikely that this route would attract a large number of people to regularly undertake trips by cycle. There is no obvious means of providing a continuous off-road route between the development site and Southam.
Distances to the larger service centres of Warwick, Leamington Spa and Rugby are too far for most people to complete trips by cycle.

Rail

The site currently has poor connectivity to the rail network with the nearest stations being located at Leamington Spa and Banbury, both of which are around 12 miles away. Train services on the line are principally provided by Chiltern Railways with a half-hourly frequency in each direction between London Marylebone and Birmingham Moor Street/Snow Hill, with some services extended to/from Stourbridge Junction in the peaks. Arriva Cross Country services also use the line with an hourly service between Manchester and Bournemouth and a less frequent Newcastle/York to Reading service (these have been recently reintroduced following the post-Covid recovery of rail demand).

Site G1 lies near the single-track Fenny Compton to Kineton line, which is used exclusively by the Ministry of Defence for rail movements to/from the Kineton MoD site. Any use of this line for passenger services is unlikely, so it has been excluded for the purpose of this assessment.

The main issue on the rail network in this area is the lack of any substantial capacity to increase service frequencies beyond their current level. The corridor is heavily used for freight, most notably intermodal services to/from the deep sea ports at Southampton.

There would appear to be two options for a new station to serve the settlement. The first option would be to locate a station on the western boundary of Site F3, although it should be noted that the railway at this point is on a substantial embankment, parts of which have recently been subject to reinforcement work by Network Rail. This may have engineering and cost implications for a new station. A new link from the A423 would be required through Site F3 to access the station. It is not clear how residents located in Site G1 would access the station in this location without substantial new highway being constructed across third-party land to the south east of Knightcote village.

The second option would be to locate a station in the vicinity of where the A423 crosses the railway south of Fenny Compton Marina, although it should be noted that the railway at this point is in a substantial cutting and running adjacent to the Oxford Canal. This may have engineering and cost implications for a new station. The proximity of Fenny Compton Down Goods Loop and its associated signaling and turnout would be a consideration in the siting of the station. It should be noted that this location is also some 2-3 miles from both sites F3 and G1.

Current journey times between Leamington Spa and Banbury for Chiltern and Cross Country passenger services is around 16-17 minutes. A key issue will be whether either operator would want to make an additional call at a station to serve the new settlement, for example Chiltern who may have already made three calls in this area (Warwick Parkway/Warwick/Leamington Spa). Issues around abstraction from Leamington Spa and Banbury would need to be explored as part of demand forecasting, along with the extent to which a new station in this area would support wider access to rail objectives from local communities such as Bishop’s Itchington, Fenny Compton, Kineton and Farnborough.

Given capacity constraints on this section of line it is envisaged that a new station would need to be served by existing train services. Adding a stop into a timetable will not only extend the overall journey time by several minutes, but it can also have wider implications for how the service interacts with other key parts of the network such as the timing at Aynho Junction south of Banbury and locations including Reading and Didcot where pathing points in relation to other services will be critical. These issues will need to be explored with the Train Operating Companies (TOCs) and Network Rail.

The typical cost of a new rail station is around £30-35m (based on the estimated cost of Rugby Parkway), although this may be higher for the location in question due to the engineering challenges noted above. Given the potential wider benefits of a new station to local communities in the area who do not currently have direct access to rail there may be a case to bid for public monies to part fund the station.

Chiltern Railways and Arriva Cross Country have been contacted to ascertain whether they would be interested in calling at a new station between Leamington Spa and Banbury, given that it forms part of a number of the options for a new settlement in South Warwickshire. In responding, Arriva Cross Country confirmed that their focus is on providing fast Inter City services and that longer distance passengers are their priority. Given the likely destinations of new passengers being Leamington Spa, Birmingham and London, they believe that Chiltern Railways would provide a better fit for the generated trips from the new settlement (possibly as part of a new hourly Birmingham to Oxford service which is currently under consideration). They confirmed that an assessment would be needed to understand the impact of any new station on capacity between Leamington Spa and Aynho Junction, including the performance and reliability of their reintroduced services between Reading and Newcastle (via Solihull). Unfortunately, no response has been received from Chiltern Railways.

Bus

The sites are close to the existing 77A service between Banbury and Leamington Spa. There are limited other local bus services in the area.

It is proposed to serve the site with a new, frequent bus service from Banbury to Leamington Spa and Warwick via JLR near Gaydon. Opportunities to divert the existing 77A service to serve the new settlement as well should be explored with Warwickshire County Council as the 77A service is fully subsidised. Opportunities to connect the new settlement with Southam through a separate service should also be explored.

Provision of high quality bus stops with shelters, Real Time Information and raised kerbs, along with bus priority measures at key junctions on the route of the proposed inter-urban service and within the new settlement should be provided.

The proposed inter-urban bus service and associated infrastructure improvements should be deliverable and affordable. There are concerns that the service may not prove to be viable in the long term due to the long distance nature of the route.

Highway (Strategic)

The site is reasonable well-located in relation to the SRN in terms of proximity to M40 Junctions 12, although current access relies on a network of predominantly ‘C’ roads to reach the B4451.

M40 Junction 12 was upgraded around 2015/16 to address queuing on the mainline motorway because of vehicles exiting to access the major employment areas at Gaydon (Jaguar Land Rover and Aston Martin Lagonda). This included the construction of a new dual-carriageway link from the junction towards the B4100.
The scheme has been successful in achieving its aims.

Previous modelling of major growth around M40 Junction 12 has highlighted the need for changes to be made to the slip-road arrangements. This should be reassessed if this option were to go forward for more detailed assessment. Traffic modelling should also be undertaken to identify if M40 Junctions 13-15 require a contribution towards an improvement, particularly when considered in conjunction with the wider SWLP Spatial Strategy.

The timely involvement of National Highways in the assessment process should ensure they are able to help scope the traffic modelling and ensure the understanding of the analysis of its outputs. Initial discussions have taken place with National Highways regarding the principle of a new single junction to potentially amalgamate M40 Junctions 13 and 14.

Improvements to any of the M40 junctions may have deliverability or affordability issues depending on their scale and the need for third-party (non-highway) land. It is assumed the costs of amalgamating M40 Junctions 13 and 14 will be met in full as a result of other development.

Highway (Local)

The site (particularly to the north east of Knightcote) is well related to the LRN in terms of the A423 which links Coventry with Banbury (and links to Rugby and Daventry from Southam). The B4100 provides access to Gaydon/Lighthorne Heath and the B4455 Fosse Way near Chesterton and the employment areas around M40 Junction 12. The ‘C’ road from Gaydon to Kineton is an important link to Kineton School. Otherwise, the network in this area consists of minor roads and lanes which are not designed to cope with large scale traffic.

The A423 was a trunk route prior to the opening of the M40 in the early 1990’s, which includes bypasses of both Southam and Ladbroke. The route has some spare capacity due to its downgraded status, although there are capacity constraints in and around Southam. There are issues with rat-running (particularly to/from JLR at Gaydon) and speeding traffic on the local ‘B’ and ‘C’ road network with several junctions having poor casualty records. As noted above, there is a limited network of other minor roads and lanes in the area, reflecting its rural nature and sparse
population.

A targeted package of improvements to the A423 around Southam, the Fenny
Compton Wharf staggered crossroads and the B4100 as well as other key junctions will be required to ensure that local traffic generated by the new settlement uses the most appropriate roads, thereby protecting local villages in the area and minimising rat-running onto less appropriate roads.


The proposed LRN mitigation is considered to be broadly affordable, however there will be a need to establish a clear network and hierarchy of routes given the current limitations of this area.


Education Impacts

Overall numbers would suggest the need for 1 new secondary school for 6,000 new dwellings and 2 new secondary schools for 10,000 new homes.

At primary we would suggest the need for 3 or 4 new primary schools for 6,000 new dwellings and between 5 and 7 new primary schools for 10,000 new dwellings.

The possibility of delivering all through schools to be considered, i.e. co-location of at least part of the primary offer with new secondary facilities.

There is an assumption that all new primary facilities will include early years facilities and Special Resource Provision facilities.

There is an assumption that all new secondary schools will provide for sixth form teaching on site and that there will also be a Specialist Resource Provision included.

There are no existing schools, primary or Secondary within safe walking distances and so home to school transport would need to be provided for all children until new provision built.

No safe walking route so home to school transport would be required.