CONTROVERSIAL plans for a relief road in Stratford have received over 1,000 objections.
Campaigners from Stratford Residents Action Group have been urging residents to oppose the planning application for the two-mile road, earmarked to run from close to Orchard Hill Farm on Shipston Road to Luddington Road near the racecourse.
The group has accused council chiefs of failing to explore options and consult residents before putting forward Cala’s plans aimed at relieving increased traffic expected from the 3,500 homes being built at Long Marston Airfield.
The £30million plans from Cala Homes include a flyover across the Greenway and the River Avon which residents fear would impact the area and the natural flood plain. Instead, the campaigners want to see a ring road built around the town.
Other concerns include pollution, wildlife destruction and noise.
The proposal received 1,022 comments on the planning portal on Stratford District Council’s (SDC) website.
Ten of these were either in support or invalid.
Group chair Marion Homer said she was confident this meant SRAG’s target of 1,000 objections had been met.
She added: “We are delighted that we reached our 1,000 target especially since it was a number we had plucked out of the air. We were going to go for 500 but we thought why not be a bit more ambitious?
“I know we are not necessarily responsible for all the objections but I think the campaign probably encouraged at least 80 per cent of them.
“We have had a number of people contacting us to thank us for taking the time to make them aware of what would happen if it went ahead. The town would have slept walked through the application if we hadn’t of built this campaign – very few of them would have read it. SDC is very poor at advising where to send people to look for planning applications.
“You can tell from a lot of the objections residents are very well informed with intelligent comments. They haven’t just said ‘we don’t want it’, they know there’s a need for a solution but it needs to be the right road in the right place. So I think we have successfully communicated the issue.
“We know we’re in for a long wait now but we look forward to hearing what Cala has to say.”
Stratford District Council is set to decide on the matter in September.
