Long Marston Airfield Garden Village Transport Studies Published

Stratford-on-Avon District Council, Warwickshire County Council and Homes England commissioned consultants to explore sustainable transport options for Warwickshire's only designated Garden Village. The suite of three studies were prepared separately by transport consultants Vectos South ltd and Jacobs Ltd. Together they:

1. establish a transport vision for the Garden Village
2. propose sustainable transport initiatives to achieve that vision such as providing car clubs, demand response transit (DRT) as well as more on-site infrastructure e.g. schools, shops, leisure and employment to reduce the number of trips residents would need to make away from the Garden Village
3. consider the viability of these initiatives.

These studies have helped the two councils to continue to consider the challenges associated with delivering a new community at Long Marston Airfield particularly in relation to meeting the travel demands it would create. The studies have confirmed that whilst sustainable transport and on-site infrastructure can reduce the impact of the community on the existing highway network, the overall level and range of travel demands combined with the limited existing infrastructure and public transport services in this part of the District necessitate the provision of significant new highway infrastructure. 

A route for a relief road to the south-west of Stratford-upon-Avon town is safeguarded in the current Stratford-on-Avon Core Strategy Local Plan. The costs associated with this road are significant and a bid to government in 2019 for funding for the road was unsuccessful. Currently there are no realistic options to fund and deliver the SWRR. The planning application for the South Western Relief Road (SWRR) submitted by the Garden Village developer remains live, but no substantive work has been carried out on the scheme since the 2019 funding bid and there remain a number of outstanding issues that would need to be resolved before Stratford-on-Avon District Council could determine the application.

The extent of highway infrastructure necessary to support the full build out of the Garden Village is likely to require significant government investment to support scheme development work and fund delivery. However, the two Council's and Homes England will continue to work together to explore opportunities for realising growth and the necessary supporting infrastructure in this area. This will include drawing on previous work that has looked at relief road options to consider whether there are any realistic alternative relief road / third river crossing options for Stratford-upon-Avon to the SWRR that could unlock growth and provide greater resilience to the local highway network.

Separately, both councils are contributing to an updated study exploring the potential for re-opening the branch line from Long Marston to Honeybourne in Worcestershire for passenger use. This work is already underway.

All of this work will inform the preparation of the South Warwickshire Local Plan (SWLP) in due course. You can find out more about Long Marston Airfield Garden Village including copies of the technical reports referred to earlier at www.stratford.gov.uk/lma. and there is more information about the SWLP at www.southwarwickshire.org.uk/swlp

You can view the published studies on the technical evidence webpage here.