Shipston-on-Stour: 202 Homes Recommended for Approval

Council planners are recommending approval for 202 new homes on two fields on the north-west edge of Shipston-on-Stour. The district council’s Planning Committee will decide both applications on Wednesday 18 November.

Shipston is about ten miles south of Stratford. The two sites sit next to each other, outside the town’s built-up area boundary, and both are opposed by Shipston Town Council. The officer reports were published with the committee agenda.

The two schemes

Both are outline applications. Only the access is being decided now. The layout and design of the homes would come back later as reserved matters.

The figures are from the officer reports for the Darlingscote Road site and the Tilemans Lane site.

Why planners say yes

Both sites break the local rules. The report accepts that they conflict with the Core Strategy and with Shipston’s Neighbourhood Plan, because they are in open countryside outside the town’s boundary.

The deciding factor is the district’s housing supply. The council can show only 2.43 years of deliverable housing land against the five years the government requires. That shortfall is set out in its latest housing land supply calculation.

Under the 2026 national planning rules, homes outside a settlement can be approved where a council cannot show five years’ supply. The officer gives the local policies that would otherwise rule the sites out “very limited weight” as a result.

The report says the gap to a five-year supply is at least 2,927 homes. It adds that the real figure “may be in the region of 4,000-5,000 homes”.

On the Darlingscote Road scheme, the officer concludes that “the benefits of approving the scheme would not be substantially outweighed by any adverse effects”. The Tilemans Lane report reaches the same conclusion.

What the town says

Shipston Town Council objected to both schemes three times, most recently on 7 September 2026. Its objections include:

• the town has already exceeded its housing allocation
• the sites are outside the built-up area boundary
• infrastructure, including the doctor’s surgery, dentists and drainage, is already at capacity
• the schemes should be judged together with the other applications in the town
• the Darlingscote Road and A429 junction is a safety concern

The ward councillor, Councillor O Hatch, objected to both. Their objection says Shipston’s health, education, fire and police services are “already at breaking point”. Councillor D Passingham, whose ward is across the road from the Darlingscote Road site, objected to that scheme. Tredington Parish Council objected too.

Of the 138 objection letters on the Darlingscote Road scheme, the concerns summarised in the report include traffic on Darlingscote Road, the A429 crossroads, flooding, sewage capacity and the loss of the town’s rural edge.

What the report says about traffic and services

Warwickshire County Council’s highways team initially raised concerns. It wanted more on the effect on the road network and on how the access would work alongside a third scheme for 90 homes on the south side of Darlingscote Road (25/01843/OUT). That third application is still pending and is not on the 18 November agenda.

After more modelling and talks with both developers, highways withdrew its concerns. The report says the access arrangements now work whether the schemes are built “independently or together”.

Severn Trent raised no objection on drainage at the Darlingscote Road site. The sites are in flood zone 1, the lowest risk category, though both carry surface water flood risk.

The Gatekeeper review on 3 November noted that Shipston has about 2,700 homes. On that count, the Darlingscote Road scheme alone would add less than 5% to the town.

What the developers would pay

Each scheme would pay towards local services through a Section 106 agreement. The main sums sought are:

Tilemans Lane would also pay £10,000 towards a bus fare promotion. Several sums are marked “to be confirmed” until the final mix of homes is fixed.

What it means for you

• The meeting is public. It starts at 6pm on Wednesday 18 November in the Council Chamber at Elizabeth House, Church Street, Stratford-upon-Avon.
• The decision rests with councillors. The officer recommendation is advice, and the committee can go against it.
• If approved, nothing is built yet. The developers would still need reserved matters approval for the layout, and the Section 106 agreement has to be signed first.
• The third Shipston scheme, 90 homes south of Darlingscote Road, would bring the total on this edge of town to 292 if all three went ahead.

We will report the committee’s decision.