CONFUSED and concerned residents are calling for Stratford’s ‘ill conceived’ Transport Strategy to be withdrawn and rethought.
Nearly 200 residents from Tiddington, Alveston and south Stratford packed a meeting organised by the Tiddington Village Residents’ Association (TVRA) this week which hoped to shed light on the proposed Eastern Relief Road included in draft plans to reduce traffic in and around Stratford.
While those gathered were supportive of the plan’s main objectives – which include cutting congestion on the Birmingham Road – the Eastern Relief Road came as a shock to most.
The proposed road would run from Boundary Lane and Pimlico Lane linking Banbury Road to the Tiddington Road, by the Baraset Barn.
Warwickshire County Council leader Izzi Seccombe was among the councillours who attended the meeting.
She said there was no provision, plan or funding for any Eastern Relief Road, and added it was difficult to enforce a weight limit on Clopton Bridge as many of the HGVs were supplying businesses in the town.
TVRA member Martin Grubb, who chaired the meeting, said: “We are calling on the county and district councils to withdraw the current ill-conceived and misleading consultation on an Eastern Relief Road.
“Instead they should take sufficient time to produce a true, long term strategy for Stratford and surrounding areas.
“The real scale and root cause of the issues need to be identified and proposals for a range of properly modeled options need to be developed.
“Stratford has suffered enough from recent knee-jerk, ill-defined solutions to tackling traffic issues.
“This latest strategy proposes to introduce an Eastern Relief Road with no evidence.”
Coun Vaudry – who chaired the traffic summit when the plans were first outlined – maintained an Eastern Relief Road was essential, but would not require funding from property developers to pay for it in exchange for being allowed to build new homes. He did not however add how it would be funded.
Plans for a South Western Relief Road – which will run from the Shipston Road to Evesham Road near the racecourse – have also been included in the draft strategy as solutions are sought to Stratford’s growing traffic problem.
