A MARINA is set to be created in Stratford more than 40 years after planning permission was originally granted.
Surrey-based developer Land and Water Estates took over the lease of the land off Seven Meadows earlier in the year and plan to have the 250-birth Shakespeare Marina open by November 2017.
Planning permission for a marina off at the site was approved by Stratford District Council in 1974. Revisions to the original plans were granted in 2012 and a sign near the site in 2014 announced the marina would be opening later that year but nothing happened.
At the time, objections to the revisions included concerns about the loss of open countryside, how much the town and landscape had changed since 1974, and the increase of traffic a marina would bring.
The Shakespeare Marina is set to be open all year round and will include all mod cons from power and water supplies, wi-fi, toilets, showers and a laundry room.
Land and Water Estates’ director Neil Warren said: “We are really excited to be embarking on another strategic investment, and are particularly looking forward to unlocking this great site, which has had the benefit of a planning permission since 1975.
“We have been very well received so far by our neighbours and locals and have been co-publicising our facility alongside the Avon Navigation Trust.
“We have some detailed design work to complete, but are already taking bookings for boats now and hope to commence full construction in the spring of 2017.”
Land and Water Estates has previously worked on wetland and habitat creation schemes for the London Olympics and emergency dredging works in Somerset after the floods in 2014.
The firm has also designed and built more than 30 canal and estuary marinas and developed and operated four sites of its own.
