Council doesn't have bandwidth to investigate land use

Proposals to investigate improvements to a former landfill site between Stratford Leisure Centre and the fisherman’s car park have been kicked into the long grass by councillors.

A motion put before the Cabinet by Liberal Democrat members last Monday, called for a report to be commissioned into possible future uses of the land.

Addressing the meeting Cllr Peter Moorse, leader of the Liberal Democrat Group, said: “It’s a site that is greatly overgrown and is of no credit to Stratford. It is sometimes misused by local people. We are proposing to look at ways in which this land can be brought back into a more useful and presentable state.”

Cllr Moorse added that funding may be available for such a project under the landfill tax scheme.

Providing her suggestions for possible future uses, fellow Lib Dem member Cllr Jenny Fradgley, said: “It is a bit derelict at the moment but there may be the possibility of funding becoming available from waste management organisations to put the site to some sort of public use “

“I’m not proposing to develop the land or build anything on it, I just think we should look at the possibility of managing it better as a public space with an environmental use.

“Maybe having a nature trail would be beneficial to the town and youngsters could learn more about wildlife down there.”

However, whilst cabinet members were sympathetic with the idea, it was decided that the authority simply had too much on its plate to make progress on such a project at this stage.

Cllr Darren Pemberton said: “I won’t say we should kick this into touch and ignore it completely, but I am concerned that we don’t have the bandwidth to take this on. I think we need to put this on a longer list and maybe look again at it in the New Year.”

After drawing attention to major projects the council is currently involved in, such as the compulsory purchase of Wellesbourne Airfield, Council leader Cllr Tony Jefferson added: “I don’t think we have the bandwidth to look at this because of all the other things we have going on. We are aware of this and it’s not going away completely, but in the short term this is not something that we wish to pursue at this time.”