Cabinet agreed on 5 October to demolish Windsor Street car park and three Gateway buildings. No funded scheme follows yet, and planning permission is still needed.

The district council’s Cabinet has agreed to knock down Windsor Street multi-storey car park. Apex House, Elizabeth Place and Conrad House, the empty office blocks beside it on the Stratford Gateway site, will go too.

The decision was taken at Cabinet on Monday 5 October. It was moved by Councillor Louis Adam, the portfolio holder for projects, and seconded by Councillor Lorraine Grocott. Members agreed it on a show of hands. No count was read out, and no member spoke against it. That is our account from the council’s own webcast of the meeting. The written decision notice had not been published when we checked on Wednesday morning.

What Cabinet was asked to agree is set out in the officer report, which we covered in detail before the meeting. In short:

  • demolition of the car park and the three office buildings
  • a £1.5 million reserve, already set aside, to pay for it
  • the Deputy Chief Executive to appoint contractors and advisers
  • a temporary surface car park on the Windsor Street site until it is redeveloped

Nothing is lined up to replace the buildings yet

The sharpest exchange of the item was about what happens after the bulldozers.

Councillor Sarah Whalley-Hoggins said the report confirmed the final cost was not yet known. She pointed to Bradford’s Broadway site, which she said was “literally a hole in the heart of the city for over a decade” after buildings came down with no funded scheme to follow. “All our residents are going to see is yet more hoardings,” she warned.

The council officer answering for the project did not dispute it. “The risk that Councillor Whalley-Hoggins points out is real,” members were told. The officer said the West Midlands Combined Authority, which owns the site jointly with the council, is taking pre-application planning advice towards an outline consent. But “there isn’t a funded development in position at the moment”.

The officer set out the case for going ahead anyway:

  • some of the offices have stood empty for close to 20 years, others for five to ten
  • they have been “severely vandalised” and are boarded up
  • antisocial behaviour is taking place inside them
  • the council pays business rates on them, which the report puts at about £225,000 a year

Another councillor was briefer. “Let’s get on with it, really,” they said, adding that the site “doesn’t give us a good impression with visitors”.

What happens next

Planning permission still has to be granted. Councillor Adam told the meeting the council is “going for that process now”. When the application is lodged, it is the point at which residents can comment formally. We will report it when it appears on the council’s planning register.

The work is meant to happen out of season. Councillor Adam said the timing is designed to fall outside the busy visitor months, to limit the impact on the town. The report itself aims to appoint a demolition contractor “towards the end of 2026 and into early 2027”.

The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust has an interest in the land. The chair of the meeting said the trust has “aspirations for a facility on the site in the longer term”. The report does not mention it.

What it means for you

If you park at Windsor Street, nothing changes yet. The multi-storey stays open until demolition begins. After that, its 243 spaces are due to be replaced by a temporary surface car park of about 90, according to the report. The council says its other car parks have enough room. Our Stratford parking guide lists the alternatives and their prices.

If you live or work nearby, expect hoardings around the cleared sites. The report says they will be secured and left ready for development rather than rebuilt straight away.

If you want a say, watch for the planning application. It will be on the district council’s E-Planning register, and we will publish the reference when it is lodged. For the wider picture, see our Stratford planning news page.

Sources