Rugby people invited to have say on contentious 5,000 housing plan as costs continue to rise

Rugby people are invited to have their say on a contentious 5,000 housing plan as costs continue to rise.

The South West Rugby Masterplan public consultation is being held by Rugby Borough Council and runs until February 12.

Liberal Democrat leader Councillor Jerry Roodhouse (Paddox) is encouraging the public to engage with the process and to "make sure they get their comments in".

Rugby Borough Council adopted the South West Rugby Masterplan Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) in June 2021 to outline the design principles, infrastructure requirements and landscaping needs for the site, which was earmarked for 5,000 new homes and 35 hectares of employment land in the borough's Local Plan 2011-2031.

Infrastructure in the masterplan SPD includes schools, health services, green spaces and a fire station, together with improvements to the transport network - including the South West Rugby Spine Road Network, which links the site to the A45/M45, the A426 and the B4642.

A recent council review of the developer contributions required to deliver the infrastructure revealed inflation had caused costs to significantly increase since the SPD was adopted - with contributions from housing development alone rising from just under £61.5 million to more than £95 million.

Costs of some infrastructure projects have also been revised after more detailed plans on design and delivery were developed.

The revised costs have required the council to formally amend the South West Rugby Masterplan SPD, with the amended document subject to a statutory, four-week public consultation which started this week.

Cllr Ian Picker, Rugby Borough Council portfolio holder for growth and investment, said: "The review of the site's infrastructure costs involved detailed discussions between the council and a number of our public sector partners, including Warwickshire County Council, Warwickshire Police, and University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust.

"The South West Rugby Masterplan SPD was drawn up to ensure such a significant development in the borough has the necessary infrastructure to support it, so we need to make sure the costings detailed in the document remain up to date, both to comply with national planning legislation and to ensure the council secures sufficient Section 106 infrastructure contributions from developers."The public consultation on the amended South West Rugby Masterplan SPD runs until 5pm on Monday, February 12.

For more information on the amended SPD - and to take part in the consultation - visit: www.rugby.gov.uk/SWRugby