In a completely separate exercise to the proposed 600 acre
Middle Quinton Eco Town, St. Modwen has submitted planning
proposals for its 478 acre portion of the site at Long Marston,
Warwickshire.
St. Modwen acquired the 478 acre site in 2004 and has spent the
past two and a half years liaising with Stratford District Council
to work up planning proposals for a mixed-use
development.
Having completed a public consultation exercise at the end of
2008, St. Modwen has refined its initial four development options
to one and has submitted proposals for a leisure-based development
that will retain the 800,000 sq ft of employment space currently on
site, thus safeguarding 500 jobs.
The proposals also include plans for 150 self catering lodges,
150 holiday homes, up to 500 houses, a caravan park and leisure
hub, an outdoor activity centre, football and cricket pitches,
whilst existing ecological habitats and landscaping will be
retained and improved upon. Finally, the rail storage and
restoration work will also remain as part of the plans which also
recommend that a rail heritage centre is developed as part of the
overall masterplan.
John Dodds, Midlands regional director for St. Modwen
says: "We have been working up these proposals with Stratford
District Council for the past two and a half years and are now
submitting plans that will not only safeguard the jobs already
present on site but enhances the tourist appeal and leisure
requirements of Stratford-upon-Avon and neighbouring areas, as well
as providing much needed family housing.
"It is important to stress that submitting this planning
application no way diminishes or detracts from our involvement with
the Bird Group on Middle Quinton. Both projects will continue to
run independently but in parallel - as they have always done - as
required by the local authority and Government. Middle Quinton is a
much larger development which would create even more employment
opportunities, as well as enhancing the regional infrastructure and
create an eco-friendly and sustainable environment where people can
live, work and shop.
"The Middle Quinton Eco Town proposals have been compiled in
response to a Government initiative that saw St. Modwen join with
the Bird Group in October 2007 to deliver a larger site that would
accommodate the proposed Middle Quinton Eco Town. This has always
been a distinct and separate exercise from St. Modwen's ongoing
work with Stratford District Council on the 478 acre
Masterplan.
"The difference between the two sites is the Masterplan has
always stuck to a firm deadline, given the current temporary
planning consent expires at the end of December 2009 whereas the
deadlines for the Eco Towns are less precise."