Stratford District Council adopts Gateway Masterplan Supplementary Planning Document

Stratford-on-Avon District Council's Full Council has today, Monday 22 April, adopted the Stratford-upon-Avon Gateway Site Framework Masterplan Supplementary Planning Document following recommendation from The Cabinet.

The Gateway Masterplan Framework Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) will help guide regeneration of the Gateway site, located to the northwest of Stratford-upon-Avon town centre, to deliver a high-quality redevelopment scheme, including a World Shakespeare Centre.

In addition, the SPD will help deliver Council policies embedded within the Core Strategy, Policy AS.1, the Stratford-upon-Avon Neighbourhood Development Plan (NDP) and Proposal SUA.6 in the emerging Site Allocations Plan (SAP).

Councillor George Cowcher, Development Portfolio Holder said: "The Gateway is a key site in the regeneration of the town centre and the further promotion of Shakespeare in the town. The consultation exercise has been completed and the SPD document amended accordingly to ensure a comprehensive approach to development at this site. This approval enables us to secure the wider regeneration benefits for the town."

The Gateway site has been identified by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust as a suitable location for a new museum and visitor attraction celebrating the life, works and times of William Shakespeare.

The proposed World Shakespeare Centre (WSC) will anchor a broader mix of town centre uses on the Gateway site and provide a complementary addition to Shakespeare's birthplace and his other family homes in the town, the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), and other cultural attractions around the town.

• The Gateway site is located to the northwest of the existing town centre of Stratford-upon-Avon. It is bordered by Birmingham Road to the northeast, Arden Street to the northwest, and Windsor Street to the southeast.
• The site occupies a transitional zone between the historic core of the town, and more recent peripheral expansion characterised by mixed commercial and employment uses. The SPD boundary extends westwards to encompass the existing surface car park fronting Arden Street, and eastwards to encompass a smaller surface car park fronting Windsor Street.
• The consultation ran for six weeks from 19 October to 1 December 2023.