Middle Quinton is the name given by the developers St. Modwen Properties and The Bird Group to a proposed new eco-town near Long Marston in

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

, England. On 3 April 2008 the UK government announced the proposal had been shortlisted along with 14 other locations. 10 proposals are expected to be built by 2020.

Eco-town proposal

The proposed eco-town would be six miles south-west of

Stratford-upon-Avon Stratford-upon-Avon (), commonly known as just Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is situated on the River Avon, north-we ...

. The majority of the 240ha site is the former Long Marston Royal Engineers depot which is now owned by St Modwen. The remainder is land owned by the Bird Group which is currently used as a business park. The plans are for at least 6,000 zero carbon homes including 2,000 affordable houses and community infrastructure including up to four schools, health care and retail facilities. About two-thirds of the site is in

and one-third in

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...

and lies in both the parliamentary constituencies of

Stratford-on-Avon Stratford-upon-Avon (), commonly known as just Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is situated on the River Avon, north-wes ...

and Mid-Worcestershire. On 4 September 2008, St Modwen and the Bird Group published a document entitled "A VISION FOR MIDDLE QUINTON ECO-TOWN". The document includes diagrams showing six phases of development over a fifteen-year period. The second round of consultation on eco-towns ran from 4 November 2008 until 19 February 2009.

Opposition to the town

The proposed town is opposed by a group of local residents named the BARD (Better Accessible Responsible Development) campaign. The BARD campaign is backed by

Dame Judi Dench Dame Judith Olivia Dench (born 9 December 1934) is an English actress. Regarded as one of Britain's best actresses, she is noted for her versatile work in various films and television programmes encompassing several genres, as well as for her ...

and

John Nettles John Vivian Drummond Nettles, OBE, (born 11 October 1943) is an English actor and author. He is best known for his starring roles as detectives in the crime drama television series '' Bergerac'' (1981–1991) in the title role, and ''Midsomer M ...

. On 12 May 2008

Stratford-on-Avon District Stratford-on-Avon is a local government district in southern Warwickshire, England. The district is named "Stratford-on-Avon" unlike its main town of Stratford-upon-Avon where the district council is based. The district is mostly rural and co ...

Council voted unanimously to oppose Middle Quinton but developers announced that they would continue with their plans. As part of their campaign, BARD has launched a judicial review into the eco-town consultation process.

Transport

A preserved railway facility at the north west corner of the site was run by the, now defunct,

Stratford on Avon and Broadway Railway The Stratford on Avon and Broadway Railway project (SBR) was an English railway project whose aim was to re-open the closed railway line from , Warwickshire to Honeybourne railway station, Worcestershire for main-line re-connection. A later ext ...

Society.

References

External links

Middle Quinton - A New Eco-town CommunitySt Modwen PropertiesThe Bird GroupBARD campaignDevelopers' Proposal
{{coord, 52.123, -1.761, type:city_region:GB-WAR, display=title Eco-towns Populated places in Warwickshire