BASE HEADER

No

ID sylw: 108899

Derbyniwyd: 07/03/2025

Ymatebydd: Warwickshire County Council

Minerals and Waste

No objections on mineral sterilisation grounds subject to the exclusion of the land to the south of Barnfield Farm and prior extraction of minerals to the North of Harbury Road 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

The key active travel link for this site will be to Warwick/Leamington Spa. The site is bounded by the Golf Lane bridleway to the north. This route runs adjacent to the Leamington Spa to Banbury railway line between Fosse Way and Whitnash and
whilst this is used for cycling is narrow, frequently overgrown by vegetation and the surface is mostly poor quality and unsuitable for cycling other than during periods of dry weather. The route stops at the edge of Whitnash.

To the south of the site, the County Council is developing plans for a cycle route between Warwick and Gaydon/Lighthorne Heath via Harbury Lane although feasibility design is yet to be completed. Part of this route could fall within the development. It could link effectively to the Warwick/Leamington cycle network at the junction of Harbury Lane/Oakley Wood Road.

The Golf Lane route would need to be upgraded and most likely widened in order to accommodate both cycles and equestrians and lessen the regularity of vegetation overgrowing, however it may be possible to provide a new parallel route through the development. Thought would need to be given to providing new off-road routes through Whitnash to connect to the existing Leamington Spa cycling network.

It has yet to be established whether the Harbury Lane route is feasible, however there is an existing cycling connection to the Warwick District sports fields which could form part of the alignment however this would need to be upgraded to provide suitable quality infrastructure.

Potentially, particularly as it may be possible to provide part of an upgraded Golf Lane route and the Harbury Lane route within the development site. Connecting from the Golf Lane route into Leamington Spa appears challenging due to the constraints of the existing highway network and limited open space. Although yet to be confirmed as feasible, the Harbury Lane route could follow the alignment of an existing cycling route to the Warwick District Sports Fields to connect to the existing cycling network at the junction of Harbury Lane/Oakley Wood Road.

Connecting to the Golf Lane route provides a slightly more direct route to central Leamington Spa but would require cyclists to use on-road routes through the Whitnash area to connect with existing provision within Leamington and Warwick. Connecting to the Warwick to Gaydon/Lighthorne Heath route would potentially provide a more effective connection to the existing Warwick/Leamington Spa cycling network and could provide a connection to a route to the employment centre at Gaydon if design work identified this route is feasible.

Leamington town centre is approx. 6km from the development site and Warwick town centre approx. 7km. These distances are reasonable for cycling and a number of the key employment and retail destinations are substantially closer to the development site than this and the trips would primarily be within an urban area with established routes.

Rail

The site currently has reasonable proximity to the rail network with the nearest station being located at Leamington Spa some 4 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 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).

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.

A new station in the vicinity of where the railway line passes under the B4455 Fosse Way would be required to serve the new settlement, although it should be noted that the railway at this point is on a substantial embankment west of Harbury Tunnel until it reaches the outskirts of Leamington Spa. This may have engineering and cost implications for the construction of a station.

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 Whitnash, Harbury, Bishop’s Itchington, Gaydon/Lighthorne Heath and Southam.

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 Service 63/64 inter-urban bus route between Rugby and Leamington Spa passes to the north of the site. Local bus services also provide access to Harbury, Bishop’s Itchington and Southam.

It is suggested that Service 665 between Leamington and Southam is enhanced in frequency and diverted to serve the new settlement, along with the provision of a separate bus service to JLR near Gaydon.

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 existing inter-urban service and within the new settlement should be provided.

The proposed diversion of the existing 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 reasonable well-located in relation to the SRN in terms of proximity to M40 Junctions 12 and 13/14 with access via predominantly ‘B’ roads (B4455/B4100 and B4455/B4100/A452 respectively).

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.

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.

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. 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 A425 which links Warwick and Leamington Spa with Southam, Daventry and Northampton and the B4455/A429 Fosse Way which is 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 Bishop’s Itchington (B4100/B4451), Gaydon/Lighthorne Heath (B4455/B4100) and Bishop’s Tachbrook (Harbury Lane/B4087).

The nature of the LRN in this area with limited ‘A’ roads and predominance of ‘B’ roads is less than ideal when planning a new settlement. 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 with rat-running (particularly to/from JLR at Gaydon) and speeding traffic with several 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 which is located on the edge of the site 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 targeted package of improvements to the A425, 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. 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.

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.

The proposed development area includes both Central and Southern Education Areas. Potential issues re selective schools available for part of the area and not the rest.

Home to School Transport considerations with no short term capacity available locally.