South Warwickshire Local Plan - Scoping and Call for Sites consultation

Notification of Public Consultation: Monday 10 May to Monday 21 June 2021

Stratford on Avon and Warwick District Councils are working together to produce a new South Warwickshire Local Plan to cover our combined geographic area.

This letter is being sent to key consultees across the area, and those individuals who have requested to be notified of planning policy consultations undertaken by either of the two Councils, You may receive this notification more than once if you are registered on the current planning consultation databases of both Councils. This is due to the separate generation of notifications at this time.

Why is the South Warwickshire Local Plan important?

The South Warwickshire Local Plan sets out the strategy and identifies sites to meet our future development needs in terms of housing, jobs, infrastructure and open spaces to 2050. We are aiming to do this in the context of addressing the important issues of climate change, wellbeing, connectivity and biodiversity. The Local Plan will also set out the planning policies that the two Councils will use to assess applications for development. It will replace certain key policies in the existing Stratford on Avon District Council Core Strategy and Warwick District Council Local Plan but other policies in these documents will remain in force.

What does the Scoping and Call for Sites consultation cover?

The consultation asks a series of questions about what issues the new Local Plan should cover, and seeks your views on how we should tackle these issues. In particular, it seeks views on where in South Warwickshire new development should be located and how best we should accommodate growth.

At the same time, we are also running a ‘Call for Sites’ exercise inviting suggestions for potential sites to be allocated for a variety of land uses.

Does the Plan contain detailed proposals?

No. At this early stage, this consultation is about scoping out ideas and doesn’t have all the answers.

In respect of the options for growth, your feedback will enable us to undertake detailed technical work on the suitability of each location, including assessing infrastructure capacity constraints. We don’t yet know how many homes or jobs would be sited in each location as that will depend on which strategy we choose and the results of the technical work.

How to View the Consultation

The best way to view the consultation document is online at www.southwarwickshire.org.uk/swlp. This webpage also includes a summary leaflet and a short video explaining in greater detail what the consultation is about. Subject to changing restrictions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, it is also available to view at:

• Stratford-on-Avon District Council offices (Elizabeth House, Church Street, Stratford-upon-Avon, CV37 6HX)
• Warwick District Council offices (Riverside House, Milverton Hill, Royal Leamington Spa, CV2 5HZ)
• Main public libraries across Stratford-on-Avon and Warwick Districts. Please check the COVID-19 restrictions at your local library before visiting.

Paper copies of the document can also be purchased from the District Councils.

Whilst it is not currently possible to hold face-to-face public consultation events due to the pandemic, the District Councils will be hosting a number of live online question and answer sessions throughout the consultation period to enable residents to ask any questions.

 Visit www.southwarwickshire.org.uk/swlp to find out more and join one of the sessions.

How to Comment

Information on how to comment is included within the consultation document itself and on the website at www.southwarwickshire.org.uk/swlp. You can make your comments online or download and fill in a comments form and email or post it to us. Email responses should be sent to either swlp@stratford-dc.gov.uk or swlp@warwickdc.gov.uk.

The Call for Sites form (Appendix 3) can be found separately at www.southwarwickshire.org.uk/swlp. Once downloaded and completed please submit it via email. More information is set out in Section 3.7 of the consultation document.

Please be advised that responses to this consultation and call for sites need only be submitted to ONE council. All responses will be shared between Stratford-on-Avon and Warwick District Councils for the lawful reason of undertaking this task. Further information on how we will handle your data is available in our privacy statements.

The consultation on the Scoping and Call for Sites consultation runs from Monday10 May to 5pm on Monday 21 June 2021.

If you have any queries regarding this consultation please contact us at swlp@stratford-dc.gov.uk (or call 01789 267575) or swlp@warwickdc.gov.uk (or call 01926 456525).

Yours faithfully,