On 15 May 2026 the Chair and Secretary of NSRA met Jennifer Warren, portfolio holder for Highways at Warwickshire County Council, along with her County Council officer colleagues, Steve Rumble (Highways) Neil Lissimore (Highways) and Kevin Painting (Schools transport) as well as Stratford West County Councillor Steve Albon and Stratford Shottery District Councillor David Curtis. Significant progress was made.
Steve Rumble confirmed that upon the opening of the “link Road“ through the new West Shottery development (which will be an A road) expected summer 2026 (Steve confirmed that he would follow up with a view to indicating a definite date) the section 106 fund of around £800,000 will become available. Steve and Neil Lissimore confirmed that they have already started drafting a scope of work to retain independent traffic consultants from their professional services framework, to provide a report and recommendations to alleviate the traffic problems in Shottery. Neil confirmed that with the release of the section 106 fund imminent, the council have taken the risk on forward funding and are willing to commission the report now, as soon as the scope of work is complete. Neil and Steve also confirmed that money will be made available not only for the report but to cover the cost of works to implement recommendations from the report. This is a significant step forwards, and we thank the County Council for taking these steps.
On related issues, Steve Albon and David Curtis were due to meet the management team at Stratford Girls Grammar School that afternoon. They confirmed that the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust are willing to allow use of the car/coach parks at Anne Hathaway‘s Cottage for buses to drop off and pick up students at SGGS.
Kevin Painting confirmed that the Traffic Commissioner for Great Britain approves bus companies for School Transport, and whilst the County Council can make recommendations, submissions will need to be made to the Traffic Commissioner concerning issues arising from the operation of School Bus Transport and the effect they should have upon existing approvals.
The chair showed to this Group numerous videos, so that they could see the dangerous use of the pavement as a road on a daily basis, and the chaos that ensues when we have prevented that by our protests on the pavement.
In particular, NSRA has commissioned independent drone footage showing traffic repeatedly mounting the pavement to negotiate around school buses, at peak times not just for traffic but for pedestrians using those pavements, including school children, elderly and disabled pedestrians. We have numerous reports of parents with small children having to dive out of the way of oncoming cars coming around a blind bend on the pavement. View the film
The County Council personnel, not themselves conversant with this daily problem, were shocked by what they saw in the footage, and we are pleased that progress is being made to address these issues.
Richard Morgan, Chairman
North Shottery Residents’ Association
E-mail: chair@north-shottery-ra.org.uk