Commonly asked questions about the traffic situation in Shottery and our response to date.
What is NSRA and why was it formed?
North Shottery Residents Association (NSRA) was formally established in September 2024, to address the concerns of those living in Shottery between Alcester Road and Evesham Road.
Currently more than 100 residents have signed membership applications and joined NSRA, and the number continues to increase.
The principal concern of all residents is the daily traffic chaos suffered on Shottery/Shottery Road, Church Lane and Hathaway Lane, exacerbated by the fleet of coaches and double-decker buses ferrying pupils to and from Stratford Girls Grammar School (SGGS), negotiating narrow mediaeval roads never intended or expected to accommodate such traffic density, with the lanes of traffic moving in both directions and a significant volume of rush-hour traffic using these routes as a convenient “cut through” to and from Stratford town centre.
Where can I find information about NSRA?
We have created a NSRA web-site and a Facebook page onto which members have posted photographic and video evidence of the daily chaos on our roads, so that relevant personnel living outside of the area who have not personally witnessed these issues first hand can see for themselves the extent of the problems. Those problems include-
- Vehicles (particularly school buses) grid locking our roads for lengthy periods;
- Irresponsible parking by school visitors when they have events such as Parents evening, etc;
- Emergency vehicles regularly use the route and cannot sometimes achieve this with the gridlock;
- Vehicles mounting the footpath and negotiating the blind corner between the Bell Inn and Stratford Girls Grammar School (SGGS) using the verges and the footpath when in use by schoolchildren, mothers with infants in prams, the elderly, disabled people in wheelchairs, and the general public;
- Continual examples of road rage and frequent vehicle collisions.
These are matters which we believe no responsible elected official should tolerate without any effective attempt to ameliorate the issues. We consider that the responsible authorities have both a legal duty and a moral responsibility to remove these dangers from our area. These issues put our residents and visitors in danger, seriously erode our ability to enjoy our properties, and have a significant adverse impact upon the value and saleability of our homes.
Is driving on the pavement illegal
Yes, driving on the pavement (sidewalk) in the UK is illegal except to gain lawful access to property via a dropped kerb or in emergencies, with penalties to be imposed on those who break the law. See:
- Section 72 Highways Act 1835
- section184 Highways Act 1980- (Driving over a footway)
- section 34 Road Traffic Act 1988
RULE 145, Highway Code:
“You MUST NOT drive on or over a pavement, footpath or bridleway except to gain lawful access to property, or in the case of an emergency.”
Driving round an oncoming school bus or other traffic is not “an emergency.”
What do NSRA aim to do about these problems?
In the course of our investigation of available remedies, we have met with representatives of Berkswell Parish Council (near Coventry) who faced similar traffic problems in their village. The parish council funded and commissioned an independent survey and report by expert traffic consultants ARUP. On the basis of this report, they were able to access the necessary funding to implement ARUP’s recommendations in terms of alterations to road and footpath layouts and physical infrastructure to combat their traffic problems. We are seeking to follow that template to achieve a similar outcome in North Shottery.
See Berkswell Parish Council, Berkswell Neighbourhood Development Plan and Better Streets In Berkswell
Why not suggest your own solutions?
One of our challenges is to find solutions to our traffic problems which command a consensus of opinion. Individual potential solutions could have the effect of moving a problem from one part of Shottery to another, so whether our members support a solution or not could depend upon where precisely within the area they live. Furthermore we (as a committee) are mere volunteers with no expertise in the area of traffic management – others with such expertise may discern solutions that do not occur to us. It may also be that the authors of such a report can recommend use of Warwickshire County Council (WCC) powers as highway authority to manage or restrict the vehicles permitted to access certain roads.
For that reason, we decided to confine our objective to commission an independent expert traffic survey and report (Report) for North Shottery, following the model successfully used in Berkswell. We know that obtaining a Report for North Shottery would be in the region of £15,000.
What has NSRA achieved to date?
We have spoken at length to Warwickshire County Council (WCC) – in particular to Councilor Jan Matecki (former portfolio holder for highways until the May 25 election) and the officers responsible for highways and education/schools transport.
We secured a significant step forwards when WCC agreed to allocate funds from the section 106 fund generated from the Bloor Homes development in Shottery. Section 106 is the legislation which enables the planning authority to require the developer to pay sums to the local authority to be used to improve local infrastructure as a condition of granting planning consent.
The issue for us is the timing of the release of the fund to enable the Report to proceed. WCC advise that this cannot be achieved until the “Relief Road” is connected to the roundabout on the Alcester Road, and given the works required from both Bloor Homes and the Highways Agency to enable this, they anticipated that the fund will not be available until 2027 at the earliest. On 5 September 2025 our County Councilor advised that completion of the works is actually likely to be 12 months later than originally envisaged, as the Birmingham Road works are that far behind schedule and the Council will not begin any work on Alcester Road until those are completed. It is also now known that the works on Alcester Road will be more complex than previously envisaged as the levels on the relief road are wrong and the existing roundabout will need to be shifted sideways. Unless therefore we can identify other measures to pursue, we would be condemned to do nothing for nearly 2 years (minimum) until 2028.
We therefore went back to WCC to press them to find the necessary funding from elsewhere. Cllr Matecki countered by pointing out that the Councillor for each ward is given an autonomous budget of £35,000 per year (Budget) to spend on any issues they deem appropriate within their ward, and that he and several other councillors have allocated funds from their budgets to deal with similar traffic issues within their wards. Our Councillor has disclosed that the delegated fund he has available is significantly more than he expected (but would not disclose the actual number). Therefore our County Councillor has sufficient funds under his control to commission the Report without waiting for the s106 fund to become available.
Warwickshire County Council – Stratford West
NSRA’s Chair was able to gain access to a Freedom of Information response from the County Council showing how that budget of £35,000 has been spent during the period that our previous County Councillor had been in post. None had been spent on roadworks in the ten plus year period.
What about the relief road – won’t that cure the problem?
Some say (and our County Councillor says) that the Report needs to await the opening of the relief road anyway, as the authors would need to know what effect the opening of that road has on the problems we have identified. However the creation of the Report is likely to be a lengthy process. If that work cannot even start for 2 years, the identification of potential solutions and subsequent implementation will be put back even further; furthermore the independent experts may identify solutions unconnected to the relief road, as well as low cost temporary measures which could alleviate the problems whilst a final Report is awaited. If preliminary work on the Report is started now, the whole process could be accelerated.
Town and Parish Councils Highways Community Action Fund
What do the other Councillors and candidates say?
We asked the candidates for Shottery in the Warwickshire County Council elections in May 2025 to tell us what they were prepared to do (if elected) to allocate funds from the Budget to enable work on the Report to start now. Only the Conservative candidate was prepared to make that commitment, but she did not win and the Lib Dems retained our ward.
Since the elections, we have had several meetings with our newly elected County Councillor, but to date have no commitment to any measures other than (finally) the double yellow lines around the green on the corner of Shottery and Tavern Lane. Warwickshire County Council agreed to fence the green (which has been done) and provide double yellow lines on the road alongside the fence in the Summer of 2024. 18 months later we are sill waiting for the double yellow lines!
Why are the double yellow lines important?
Cars parked on this corner make it even harder for the school buses to negotiate the 90 degree bend between The Bell and SGGS.
Isn’t it residents’ parked cars that create the problem?
The only residents who park in the road are those (such as at Orchard Side) who have no off street parking available to them. There are also a number of elderly residents who have care workers and medical staff attending at the same time as the school buses pass through, as well as tradesmen working at local properties. Some parked vehicles in Shottery is inevitable, and there only needs to be one for the problems to occur.
What is NSRA doing to pressure Warwickshire County Council (WCC)?
We have referred the issue to the Local Government Ombudsman. The Ombudsman initially replied to the effect that, despite 18 months of correspondence with WCC, the County Council must first be given a final opportunity to respond to a formal complaint. We therefore resubmitted a detailed formal complaint via their complaint process on 5 September 2025. They replied to say that we would have their reply “shortly” – as at January 2026 we are still waiting!
What is the position of Stratford Girls Grammar School [SGGS]?
On the issue of the Ridleys and other buses taking Stratford Girls Grammar School (SGGS) students to and from the school, we have had several meetings with WCC, Ridleys and SGGS. We have learned that WCC is not party to, and therefore does not control, those transport contracts. The contracts are made annually between Ridleys (and the other companies) and the parents of each student. Therefore, to make progress we would need to persuade parents to agree to students being dropped and collected from some location other than at the school. To attempt to make progress with this we met with the Governors at SGGS on 29 April 2025. We learned that a survey of students (approx. 800) revealed that their travel to school breaks down as follows –
- Private bus (Ridleys etc) 50%
- Car 17%
- Train 10%
- Walking/other 23%
We talked about Ridleys and the other coach companies dropping/collecting somewhere other than SGGS, to alleviate the issues on Shottery / Shottery Road. The governors made clear that they would not support the rail station or Anne Hathaway’s Cottage (they have since spoken to Anne Hathaway’s Cottage about this, but they declined to assist) as a location, as their priority is safeguarding of students, and they have not identified any other suitable location, so that currently they see delivery to and collection from SGGS as the only viable option. Thus they would be unwilling to facilitate any communications to parents advocating an alternative.
Whilst 10% of students already travel by train, the governors state that a significant increase in the numbers walking from the station would necessitate SGGS providing wardens/marshalls at the crossing on Alcester Road and other points en route and across Shottery Fields, which is not considered feasible.
The governors would be willing to support other measures, including lobbying WCC to accelerate provision of double yellow lines around the green and other measures to alleviate the traffic problems.
We consider that there are other measures that could and should be implemented immediately. The measures we have discussed include:
- making Shottery Road a “No Through Road – Access to Frontages Only” [leaving aside our own views on this, we do not perceive that this would preclude the school buses as they are accessing the frontage of SGGS];
- part time traffic lights on Shottery Road at the times that the school buses are operating;
- bollards on the kerb opposite SGGS between SGGS and the Bell Inn, to stop traffic driving on the footpaths;
- chicanes in Hathaway Lane and Church Lane to provide some enforcement of the 20 mph limit which is universally ignored [considered potentially unnecessary in Shottery Road on the basis that the kerb side bollards would have the same effect];
- completion of the double yellow lines around the Green at the junction of Shottery and Tavern Lane [promised many months ago but still not done].
Illogically, in our view, the governors consider that their duty of care to those traveling by bus precludes them from supporting a scheme whereby the students are dropped away from the school and left to walk. They do not apply the same consideration to those walking from the train station given the smaller number and the age of those travelling by train.
What about SGGS open evenings etc?
We have also seen really chaotic scenes in the evenings when SGGS have held open events for parents. In July 2025 we wrote to SGGS and requested detailed proposals from SGGS to address this issue for future events; in particular –
- Use of nearby car parks – Shottery Churches, Hospice, Hathaways Cottage, unopened relief road (not currently used for any other purpose), others;
- Park and ride scheme using Ridleys or others;
- No parking cones along kerbs;
- Sufficient number of stewards to effectively police the situation;
- Other measures.
What is the legal position in relation to the school governors?
These are matters which we believe no responsible governing body should tolerate without any effective attempt to ameliorate the issues. We consider that the governors have both a legal duty and a moral responsibility to remove these dangers from our area. These issues put our residents and visitors in danger, seriously erode our ability to enjoy our properties, and have a significant adverse impact upon the value and saleability of our homes.
We consider that this stance is open to challenge on a legal basis given the inevitable traffic chaos this causes on a daily basis in Shottery.
Our analysis is set out below (emphasis added).
School governors are primarily accountable to the school’s local community, parents, and the Local Authority (LA) or the trustees of a Multi-Academy Trust (MAT). They are also held accountable by the public and regulatory bodies, with inspections by Ofsted serving as a key mechanism to evaluate their performance and ensure high standards of education.
Specifics of Accountability
Local Community & Parents: Governors represent the public interest and are accountable to the parents and the wider community they serve.
Compliance: Governing bodies must ensure the school complies with its legal responsibilities, including upholding the school’s charitable objects in the case of a trust.
Complaints about the Chair of Governors, any individual governor or the whole governing body should be addressed to the Clerk to the Governing Body via the school office (we have already done this).
Legal action against school governors is possible if they act in bad faith or are personally negligent, as governors are collectively accountable for their decisions. For issues with a school governor, the complainant should start by following the school’s internal complaints procedure by contacting the Clerk to the Governing Body. If this does not resolve the issue, the complainant can escalate the complaint to the Department for Education (DfE).
That is the final stage of review for any complaint within DfE but, if the complainant is still unhappy, they can refer the complaint to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, directly or through the local MP.
We have therefore initiated the first stage of that process.
What else could be done about these problems?
As stated, we had several meetings with County Cllr Jan Matecki in 2024 and 2025, and with his colleagues, about measures that could be taken to alleviate the traffic problems in Shottery.
These meetings confirmed that the section 106 funding from the West Shottery development (£586K as at 2019 update, and index linked) will be used to fund a full traffic management report for Shottery by an independent consultancy akin to ARUP, to be appointed in 2026. This (“Stage 2”) report was to be preceded by a traffic survey (“Stage 1”) which WCC agreed to fund, and this was undertaken in March 2025. The Stage 1 survey was to include 4-5 count points recording volume and speed of traffic entering/exiting Shottery, plus ANPR cameras to record movements of traffic and pedestrians – in fact the survey undertaken was much smaller scale, and did not reveal any useful data.
Access to funding for the Stage 2 report from the s106 fund will be triggered by completion of the connection of the relief road to the A46 roundabout. National Highways expected that work to begin Summer 2025 (to co-incide with completion of the Birmingham Road roadworks) and to take 18 months, so that funding for the Stage 2 report was expected in 2027. We now understand that the timescale will be 12 months longer.
Whilst these steps are welcome and represent progress, the Association remains very concerned that the timescales are just too long and that we as residents will be left to suffer the continuing problems for 2 years plus without any action.
In particular –
- the reports and works envisaged do not have to await the release of the s106 funding – there are other budgets and funds from which these expenses can be met, and the three tiers of local authority responsible for Shottery have more than enough in funds between them to cover these costs, which are not significant in comparison to the overall funds administered by the Councils collectively;
- the wider driver behaviour issues need to be addressed with much greater urgency. We have repeatedly invited council representatives to view the footage on the North Shottery Residents Association Facebook page to see what we are contending with. A number of cameras strategically placed need to be deployed to collate this evidence.
- pending more comprehensive solutions, there are a variety of inexpensive measures that the councils can impliment to alleviate the situation, including installation of bollards along the kerb around the bend on Shottery/Shottery Road between the Bell Inn and the Girls Grammar School (to prevent vehicles mounting the pavement and using it as part of the road, which they do every day), regulation of the vehicle size permitted to use Shottery/Shottery Road (requiring the buses to use alternative routes) etc.
We therefore know that the WCC proposal means that this process would not start until 2027 at the earliest, and now likely to be 2028. We consider that timescale to be way too long and we as residents should not be left in this situation for years. When we pressed Cllr Jan Matecki to find the funding elsewhere, he very clearly directed us to our Ward County Councillor and their delegated budget of £35,000 per year. However, our Ward County Councillor has not been prepared to use that budget to bring forward the date of the traffic survey/report.
Our County Councillor is also our Town Councillor. Stratford-upon-Avon Town Council has significant reserves of Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) which could be used to commission a masterplan, similar in vision and ambition to Berkswell’s.
We are also aware of Warwickshire’s Highways Community Action Fund for which Town Councils are eligible. HCAF focuses on capital investments, ensuring lasting improvements to Warwickshire’s highways, including pavement improvements, safer routes to schools and speed reduction measures as well as environmental enhancements like signage and wayfinding.
We urge all parties to commit to work together towards the development of a costed plan and to create the conditions for positive change.
Prepared by Richard Morgan, Chair, NSRA 10 January 2026