Alternative plans for eco-town site up for discussion
4:33pm Wednesday 8th October 2008
ECO-TOWN developers St Modwen are beginning consultation this month for an entirely separate development on their portion of the site at Long Marston.
St Modwen acquired their 478 acre portion of the site in 2004 and have since been working with Stratford District Council in advancing four re-development options which were consulted on last October.
Now a year on, the four options have been refined to two, and these two options will undergo further scrutiny this month before a final Masterplan for the site is produced.
John Dodds, regional director of St Modwen, said: ”Our proportion of the brownfield site at the Long Marston estate has long been earmarked for development.
“For the past two years we have been consulting the public and working closely with Stratford District Council to identify a suitable use for the site and will continue to do so separate from the eco-town project.”
The two options being considered are known as Option 5, which outlines a more leisure based use of the site and the provision of 500 new homes, and Option 6, which is for a more residential based use with around 2,200 homes.
They will be presented to residents at two consultations sessions; the first on Wednesday, October 15 at Lower Quinton Village Hall from 4pm until 8pm, the second on Saturday, October 18 at Long Marston Village Hall from 10am until 4pm.
While the developers have stressed this latest consultation does not in any way constitute a u-turn on their eco-town ambitions, ultimately, the two plans cannot both be implemented.
David Bliss, chairman of BARD, added: "Clearly St Modwen is baulking at the cost of implementing an eco-town.
“These new masterplans are signs of a desperate scrabble to get a proposal together that enhances St Modwen's prospect of making money out of the former MoD land.
“Yet as we understand the proposals, neither meet the District's current planning guidelines so consultation on them would be pointless."