Knocking down Windsor Street car park will take about eight weeks on site, the demolition plan says. Planners cleared it on 28 October with no conditions.

Updated 31 October: both applications were decided on 28 October. Planners found their prior approval “is not required”, and attached no conditions, so the environmental health request for a demolition management plan was not imposed. Our report on the decisions.

Demolishing Windsor Street multi-storey car park would take about eight weeks on site. That is the estimate in the demolition method statement the district council has lodged with its own planning department.

The council is asking whether its prior approval is needed to knock the car park down. The application, 26/02443/DEM11, was received on 24 September and validated on 1 October. Its target decision date is Thursday 29 October.

A second application, 26/02444/DEM11, covers the former office building on Arden Street known as the Gateway. It has the same dates.

Cabinet agreed the demolition on 5 October, as we reported at the time. These are the planning steps that follow.

How long it would take

The method statement was prepared for the council by the consultancy Beyond and is dated 22 September. Its programme says:

  • a lead-in of about 4 to 5 weeks after a contractor is appointed
  • up to 8 to 12 weeks for disconnecting utilities, statutory notices and other preparation
  • about 8 weeks on site for the car park, including removing foundations where needed and levelling the ground
  • about 18 weeks on site for Apex House, Elizabeth Place and Conrad House, because they sit close to neighbouring buildings
  • 6 to 8 months for the whole job, including the preparation

The statement says the final programme will be set by the contractor once surveys and approvals are complete. The Cabinet report aimed to appoint one “towards the end of 2026 and into early 2027”.

What the council says comes next on the land

The statement gives more detail on the long-term plan than the Cabinet report did.

  • At the Windsor Street end, “the longer-term aspiration is to deliver a World Shakespeare Centre in partnership with the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust”. Feasibility designs “are currently being prepared”.
  • Until then, the car park site would become a temporary surface car park, built to the Park Mark safety standard or an equivalent.
  • At the Arden Street end, the West Midlands Combined Authority plans a residential-led redevelopment and the refurbishment of Wellington Terrace. A planning application for that is “scheduled to be submitted in autumn 2026”.
  • Along Arden Street and Birmingham Road, the cleared office sites would be screened by decorative hoarding between 2.1 and 2.4 metres high, carrying information about the Gateway project.

Inert rubble would be crushed and reused as aggregate where possible, including for the temporary surfacing.

What the consultees said

Consultee Response
Warwickshire County Council, highways No objection, subject to the final demolition method and construction documents being acceptable
District council environmental health No objection, subject to a demolition management plan being approved first
Stratford-upon-Avon Town Council No representation
Warwickshire County Council, ecology Full response still to come when we checked

Environmental health recommends that no demolition work happens outside 8am to 6pm on weekdays and 8am to 1pm on Saturdays, with none on Sundays or bank holidays. It also asks for controls on dust, noise and vibration, deliveries timed to avoid peak and school-run traffic where practicable, and no burning of waste.

The council’s bat surveys, by Arbtech, assessed the open-sided concrete car park as having “negligible” habitat for bats. Across the site they found a “sufficiently low risk” of roosts for work to go ahead under an ecologist’s supervision.

What it means for you

The formal comment period has closed. The consultation dates on both applications expired on 19 October. Under this route the council can only weigh the method of demolition and how the site is restored. Whether the car park should go was decided by Cabinet.

If you live or work near Windsor Street or Arden Street, the environmental health condition is the one to watch. If it is attached, the contractor must get a management plan approved covering hours, lorry routes, dust and noise before any work starts. It must also give the site manager’s phone number and email.

If you park at Windsor Street, nothing changes yet. The multi-storey stays open until work begins. Our Stratford parking guide lists the alternatives and their prices. Background on the whole scheme is in our earlier report on the plan, and other live cases are on our Stratford planning news page.

The decisions were issued on 28 October: see our report.

Sources