Windsor Street multi-storey and three Gateway buildings face demolition. 243 spaces would become about 90. Cabinet decides on 5 October, with £1.5m set aside.
Windsor Street multi-storey car park would be knocked down under plans going to the district council’s Cabinet on Monday 5 October. Three other buildings on the Stratford Gateway site would go with it: Apex House, Elizabeth Place and Conrad House.
The multi-storey has 243 spaces. A temporary surface car park of “in the order of 90 parking spaces” would replace it once the site is cleared. That is the council’s own figure, and it says the final number depends on detailed design.
The plans are set out in a report to The Cabinet published with the 5 October agenda. It is the first time the demolition has appeared as a decision in the council’s own papers.
What Cabinet is being asked to agree
The report recommends that Cabinet:
- agrees the demolition of Windsor Street Multi-Storey Car Park, Apex House, Elizabeth Place and Conrad House
- applies a £1.5 million earmarked reserve, already approved, to the work
- lets the Deputy Chief Executive appoint the contractors and advisers
- lets the same officer vary or end existing arrangements at Windsor Street car park
- allows a temporary surface car park on the Windsor Street site until the land is redeveloped
The site is owned jointly by the district council and the West Midlands Combined Authority. The report says the two bodies still need to complete a legal agreement before work starts.
Why the council wants the buildings down
The report calls the buildings “vacant, underutilised or approaching the end of their useful operational life”. It says they keep costing money in maintenance, security and inspections.
The biggest single cost is business rates. The council says it is liable for “circa £225,000 per annum” on the site. A reserve set aside to cover those holding costs is expected to have £712,404 left by the end of 2026/27.
On the car park itself, the report is blunt. It describes Windsor Street as “in generally poor condition”, with “non-working lifts and poor lighting”. Officers do not believe it “would be economical to bring the car park back to standard”. Our parking guide already lists it as having no working lifts.
None of the four buildings is listed, according to the report. The heritage buildings fronting Birmingham Road are not part of the demolition.
What it means for you
If you park at Windsor Street, you would lose about 150 spaces there once work starts. The council says it provides more than 2,800 parking spaces in Stratford-upon-Avon. It also says a capacity assessment “confirmed that sufficient capacity exists” in its other car parks, with the park and ride as a further option.
If you hold an access licence that uses the car park, the report says some may be temporarily suspended during the works. It puts the income from those licences at about £4,470 a year.
If you live or work near Arden Street, the report says the cleared sites there will be hoarded, secured and left “development-ready” rather than rebuilt straight away. It also says “longer term consideration is being given to the increase of car parking on Arden Street”.
Nothing happens on Monday itself. Planning permission is still needed before any demolition can start, and a planning consultant has been appointed to prepare the application. That application is the point at which residents can formally comment.
When the work could start
The report is careful to call its timetable “indicative”. Officers expect to finish approvals and procurement during 2026. They aim to appoint a demolition contractor “towards the end of 2026 and into early 2027”.
Several things could move that, according to the report:
- ecology assessments
- utility investigations and disconnections
- access arrangements and Party Wall processes
- the planning decision itself
The council says it will try to crush and reuse the car park’s reinforced concrete on site where it can, rather than sending it to landfill.
The meeting
Cabinet meets at 10am on Monday 5 October in the Council Chamber at Elizabeth House, Church Street. The agenda and the full reports are on the council’s meetings site.
The same agenda also carries a report on extra funding for the Stratford BID wardens and one on a governance structure for the planned Long Marston Airfield new community.
For the wider picture on development in town, see our Stratford planning news page.
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