Council banks £230k towards airfield redevelopment

A GOVERNMENT grant of £230,000 has been given to Stratford-on-Avon District Council to help its planning department cope with the extra workload resulting from the huge redevelopment of Long Marston Airfield.

The money has come from the Homes and Communities Agency and is part of the redevelopment of the airfield as a so-called garden village.

It will fund extra staff and specialist consultants as plans come forward for the 4,000 homes, a village centre, two primary schools, a secondary school and employment land.

The council has already set up a special team with £100,000 from its own budget to handle the bigger developments in the core strategy.

They also include the similar-sized new settlement at Gaydon and Lighthorne Heath, and the Stratford Canal Quarter regeneration project.

Cllr Daren Pemberton, planning and administrative services portfolio holder at the district council, said: “This is excellent news, winning this additional funding will enable us to increase capacity and skill sets in the planning service to meet the specific challenges of delivering a new garden village at the same time as the new settlement at GLH.

"This will be key to ensuring we have the right resources to deliver high quality new communities where residents will enjoy a high quality of life

“Congratulations to everyone in the district council’s planning team involved in putting this winning bid together.”

Long Marston Airfield was announced as one of 14 garden villages in January last year - full story HERE.