BASE HEADER

No

ID sylw: 108898

Derbyniwyd: 07/03/2025

Ymatebydd: Warwickshire County Council

Minerals and Waste

OBJECT due to the possible impact on an allocated mineral site and possible mineral sterilisation and subject to:
• Minerals Assessment Report (for assessing the possible impact on mineral resources and determining whether prior extraction is achievable),
• Materials Management Report (for assessing the sourcing and use of construction materials including the availability of on-site materials for reuse/recycling),
• Site Waste Management Plan (a plan for reusing/recycling waste on site and avoiding off-site disposal to landfill),
• Soil Management Plan (a plan to manage all soils on site during construction)


Active Travel

This site is not served by any existing cycling routes, however there is an extensive network of routes within Warwick and Leamington which extend to the new development on the Europa Way corridor and at Heathcote, with a route between Bishop’s Tachbrook and Heathcote however this is a relatively low quality and narrow shared use facility with limited capacity for attracting significant numbers of trips. The emerging Tachbrook Country Park also provides facilities for cycling that connect between the B4087 Oakley Wood Road and A452 Europa Way at the southern edge of new development at Heathcote.

New routes would need to be provided to connect to the existing network on the edge of Warwick. A key challenge would be creating connections over the M40, Banbury Road and potentially Tach Brook. The route between Bishop’s Tachbrook and Heathcote may require upgrading to accommodate additional cycling trips if this was a preferred alignment. Some additional investment may be required to fill key missing links in the existing Warwick and Leamington Spa networks and to upgrade some poorer quality existing routes.

At least part of the active travel connections could be created as part of the site access arrangements. Additional links would be required to continue these routes to connect to the existing network in the Heathcote area. Some additional network improvements may be required within Leamington Spa and Warwick. The journey distances to Warwick and Leamington Spa town centre are approx. 5km with many services and facilities located closer to the development site. Such distances are within those that people are likely to be willing to cycle if suitable quality
infrastructure can be provided.

Rail

The site currently has reasonable proximity to the rail network, the nearest stations being Leamington Spa and Warwick some 5 miles away and Warwick Parkway some 7 miles away. Train services 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 call at Leamington Spa 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).

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.

Improved multi-modal access to Leamington Spa and Warwick Parkway stations will be required to encourage medium and longer-distance trips to be made by rail from the new settlement. Increased parking may also be required to meet overall demand levels. There is potential for the recently upgraded A452 Europa Way corridor to provide a convenient access route for new or upgraded bus services, linking the new settlement to Leamington station (and the town centre).

Given capacity constraints on this section of line it is envisaged that existing train services will be used. An assessment of the need for additional seating capacity will be required to understand whether trains will require lengthening, particularly during peak periods of demand.

The infrastructure improvements identified above should be affordable and deliverable, albeit that further work to understand how additional parking could be provided at both stations will need to be undertaken to identify land/decking options and their associated costs. The costs and deliverability of additional rolling stock, should it be required to strengthen services, will need to be explored with the West Midlands Rail Executive and TOCs.

Bus

The 77, 77A and 77C inter-urban services between Leamington Spa and Banbury (via Jaguar Land Rover) pass close to the eastern edge of the site. Local bus services also provide access to Newbold Pacey, Ashorne, Moreton Morrell and Lighthorne.

It is proposed to serve the site with a new, frequent bus service to Leamington Spa and Warwick. Opportunities to divert the existing 77/77A/77C service from Banbury to Leamington Spa should be explored to deliver the new service. This will require discussion/agreement with Warwickshire County Council as these services are fully subsidised. Alternatively, the new services being planned to serve the Asps Park and Ride site could be extended south to provide a high quality, frequent bus corridor.

The site should also be served by a new, frequent service to Wellesbourne and Stratford-upon-Avon. Opportunities to combine the two routes to deliver a frequent service between Leamington Spa and Stratford-upon-Avon via the new settlement should 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, affordable and viable in the long term if planned and promoted properly.

Highway (Strategic)

The site is well located in relation to the SRN in terms of its proximity to M40 Junctions 13 and 14 via the B4087/B4100 and A452.

The split arrangement of M40 Junctions 13 and 14 with their limited movements and proximity to M40 Junction 15 (Longbridge) have safety issues caused by their physical characteristics and conflict between entering and exiting traffic. This issue is predicted to worsen over time because of background traffic growth on the M40 combined with local growth impacts in South Warwick/Leamington. A new settlement in this area along with further growth in the joint Local Plan will undoubtably add to these problems. There is however a potential through the SWLP Spatial Strategy to actively seek to rationalise Junctions 13 and 14 into a single junction mid-way between the two with a new connection to the A452/A425 Grey’s Mallory junction as part of development proposals for this area. This would address most of the safety issues and improve traffic flows. A new access road from the B4087/B4100 to the amalgamated junction would provide direct connectivity to the SRN from the new settlement.

Given the potential rationalisation of M40 Junctions 13 and 14, there do not appear to be any significant improvements to the SRN which will need to be funded as a result of the proposed new settlement. Traffic modelling should be undertaken to identify if any other junctions such as M40 Junctions 12 and 15 may 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 amalgamate M40 Junctions 13 and 14.

Subject to the outcome of any detailed traffic modelling work, it does not appear that there will be any deliverability or affordability issues in relation to SRN mitigation, assuming the costs of amalgamating M40 Junctions 13 and 14 are met in full as a result of other development in the area. If this were not to happen, then there could be significant issues with affordability if these costs were also to be met by the new settlement.

Highway (Local)

The site is well related to the LRN particularly in terms of the A452 and A425 which link the site with Warwick and Leamington Spa, the B4087 which links towards Leamington Spa, Wellesbourne and Stratford-upon-Avon and the B4455/A429 Fosse Way which provides a long distance cross-country route linking Leicester with Cirencester. There are several other ‘B’ roads in the area which provide links to local villages such as Gaydon/Lighthorne Heath (B4100) and Harbury (B4100/B4455).

There are also minor roads which provide links towards Barford and the A429, however these are not designed to carry large volumes of traffic.

Traffic volumes continue to grow along the A452 Europa Way linked to major growth allocated in the current Warwick District Local Plan, with associated impacts on the Banbury Spur between Grey’s Mallory and M40 Junction 14. There are also ongoing issues with traffic leaving the M40 and entering the LRN from both Junctions 13 and 14 given their current configuration. Previous Local Plan Strategic Transport Assessment work has highlighted issues on the A425 going into Leamington Spa and within the town centre (including the Bath Street area) as a result of growth to the east of the town. There are also issues more widely across the area with rat- running (particularly to/from JLR and Aston Martin Lagonda at Gaydon) and speeding traffic with several local junctions having poor casualty records. The Fosse Way is used locally as an eastern bypass of Warwick and Leamington Spa, which has implications for traffic exiting from or entering side roads. The Harbury Crossroads near Chesterton has recently been signalised to address these issues as well as impacts from growth in South Leamington. The County Council is currently in the initial stages of developing a Route Treatment scheme for the Fosse Way, which will aim to implement interventions designed to address speeding traffic concerns with a focus on enhancing road safety for all users, including young and new drivers.

A package of improvements to the A452, A425, B4087, B4455 and other key ‘B’ roads in the area as well as 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 major improvement of the B4087 between the M40 and Wellesbourne should include the delivery of a western bypass of Newbold Pacey. Impacts on Warwick and Leamington Spa town centres will need to be assessed, including consideration of the emerging ‘Mini-Holland’ and other roadspace reallocation/active travel schemes within those town centres. Mitigation will be required to support casualty reduction measures along the Fosse Way in line with the Route Treatment scheme described above. This will include a major improvement of the A425/B4455 Fosse Way junction.

Given the limited requirement for SRN mitigation arising from this option, the proposed LRN mitigation is considered to be broadly affordable. The proposed local bypass of Newbold Pacey will require further detailed work to establish a preferred alignment, which in turn will inform the need for third-party land acquisition. The County Council will assume that all costs and risks associated with this scheme would rest with the developer if the new settlement option were to go forward. It is assumed that a new link road from the B4087 to the amalgamated M40 junction between Junctions 13 and 14 could be delivered as an internal road through the development, built to an appropriate standard as a strategic link.

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.

This is not a favoured location in terms of education.