The Residents Association (RA) Committee met with the Taylor Wimpey Midlands Technical team (TW) last week to discuss the things you told us were your priorities.  Also present were Dave Passingham our Stratford District Councillor, Town Mayor John Dinnie and Town Councillor Jerry Corless.

In this report we summarise what was discussed and explain what we can expect over the coming weeks and months.

Our approach

We may share a number of frustrations about the way in which TW has handled things in the past, but our approach is to develop a good working relationship with them.  We will engage with TW in a professional and respectful way, whilst at the same time being very clear about we expect them to deliver.  

The good news is that TW approached this meeting in a constructive way and they listened to what we had to say.

Addressing Your Top Priorities

We started by going through the survey results, which clearly show what matters to you the residents.  Here is what they had to say about your top priorities.

The proposed Hanson Farm development

This is a matter of concern, particularly to residents of Herdwick Gate and the strength of feeling of those residents was conveyed.  A number of specific issues were outlined, including the dangers of having construction traffic on Webb Road.

TW was asked if they could object to the proposed development.  They are going to look in to this but there are no promises.

The condition of roads/pavements

This is predominantly an issue for Herdwick Fold.  There is good news and not so good news.

First of all we set out our concerns about the dangerous state of the roads and pavements, especially for the elderly, disabled, young children and wheelchair/pushchair users.  Many people have suffered damage to vehicles.  There are real health and safety issues.

The good news is that TW assure us that they have all legal permissions in place to get the roads and pavements on Herdwick Fold finished.  It will take them around two months to make the necessary preparations with contractors to do the surfacing work.  Then the work itself will be carried out relatively quickly, subject to weather conditions.

The not so good news is that they can’t start those preparations until Orbit/United Living - the Shepherd’s Gate development - fix a problem on Hands Place at the junction where it meets Nason Way.  (See image).  It’s to do with road levels from one development not being the same as the other.  Obviously they need to be the same.  

TW have discussed this with United Living and there is agreement that United Living will do this work at the earliest opportunity.  SDC Councillor Dave Passingham has already written to Orbit to ask them to expedite matters.

Once that work is done and the levels match, TW will begin the two month process of commissioning the surfacing work.  We think that realistically the roads and pavements could be finished by Spring 2025.

One last point here: the pavement with a steep gradient that connects Bradley Drive to Campden Road will be removed and landscaping work will take place such that you should not be able to detect that the pavement ever existed.

Landscaping issues in the Public Open Spaces (POS)

As part of our meeting we took Taylor Wimpey round both developments and it would be fair to say it was a bit of an eye-opener for them.  Following an earlier TW audit the existing contractor responsible for maintaining our POS (PGE) will be replaced by a new company in November 2024.*

When the new contractor comes in there will be a full site survey (both developments) to establish what needs to be done to bring the landscape in line with original plans.  Members of the RA Committee will accompany them as they conduct the survey.

* EDIT UPDATE: Following publication of this report we have subsequently learned that the contractor coming in to do the survey has been employed only to carry out remedial work.  The existing contractor will continue to maintain the POS.

It will be interesting to see what this survey finds.  The Residents Association conducted its own landscape survey in the summer and we found 40% of trees/shrubs/plants either missing or dead.  Plus there were missing environmental installations such as bat boxes and bird boxes.  There is much work to be done.

Importantly our POS can not be transferred over to Trinity (Estates) Property Management Ltd until everything is to the required standards.  Home owners should not pay anything towards maintenance costs until this transfer has taken place.  Please look out for a separate news article about “Maintenance Charges” - coming soon on the RA website.

Adoption of roads/pavements by Warwickshire County Council

You won’t be surprised to hear that Herdwick Gate is closer to adoption than Herdwick Fold because they have properly surfaced roads and pavements for a start.

With Herdwick Gate all the necessary checks have been completed and permissions are now in place for adoption to take place.  It is normal for Warwickshire County Council (WCC) to monitor things for a period of up to 12 months to make sure everything is OK.  We are now within that 12 month monitoring period so it is our understanding that by this time next year (Autumn 2025) Herdwick Gate roads and pavements will be adopted by WCC.

It’s important to mention that bricked roads are “private roads” and as such will not be adopted.  Adjacent houses own their own section of a private road and some neighbours may have a legal right (easement) to use the road to reach their own property.  Also our green spaces and footpaths (POS) are not going to be adopted by WCC.  We the residents have the privilege of paying for that on top of our council tax!

Other Important Issues

Surface Water Drainage on POS

Whilst this didn’t make your top three priorities in the survey it was pretty high up.  This may be a reflection of the fact that it is a transient issue: for the most part rain comes and goes.  But surface water drainage issues in our open spaces can sometimes become a very real problem for individual home owners.  We are on a hillside and water will find the easiest way to the River Stour and for some that has meant through their properties.  

But even if the drainage problems are in public spaces it can still have a detrimental effect on things like our footpaths and playground areas.  We told TW that we have some serious concerns about surface water drainage and we gave examples.  We believe this is an issue that will not go away unless properly addressed.

TW said that there had been some extreme weather conditions and that they were addressing problems identified at specific locations where residents were badly affected.  However they cautioned against any expectation of wholesale changes to the drainage systems installed.

Whilst we are happy that specific residents are being helped, this answer didn’t go as far as we would have liked.  We may need to put in further work on this if we are to make progress.  If any resident wants to help in this regard please contact us.

Please look out for an upcoming news story about one flooded resident on Herdwick Gate who has finally had her appeals for help heard by TW.

Condition of footpaths on POS

This is related to the surface water drainage issue.

Many of you will have noticed that the footpaths in our POS have been badly eroded by running water.  Indeed one footpath on Herdwick Fold has a natural spring right in the middle of it which is carving out a crater that has to be avoided.

TW explained that the material used, Breedon Gravel, would not have been their first choice but conditions in the planning consent required them to use this material.  Another type of gravel would have been more suited.  They did say that they will explore all possibilities to renew and strengthen the footpaths, so we look forward to hearing their proposals.

And of course some sections of footpath have not yet been created, including the path at the back of Herdwick Gate which should go all the way down to the end of Webb Road.  Also awaited is the footpath that will connect Hands Place (Shepherd’s Gate) with Campden Road.

As an aside, the spontaneous footpath on the far side of the attenuation basin that connects Barrett Place (Shepherd’s Gate) to Campden Road is on land not owned by TW, so they don’t propose to do anything with that.  As a now established ‘desire line’ it’s hard to imagine how that can be stopped.

Conclusion

We think this meeting represents a good start but of course words need to be followed by actions.  

The Committee has a good line of communication with TW and we intend to monitor the situation.  If we don’t see promises being kept we will raise our concerns with Taylor Wimpey and seek answers.

We are realistic enough to understand that getting both developments over the finishing line is going to take time.  We don’t expect miracles, but we think it is fair to expect a plan with milestones so that we can see where things are going well and where things are not.

Where things may have previously “fallen down the cracks”, your Committee is going to be the Polyfilla that fills those cracks so that important issues don’t simply get lost and forgotten about.  We will publish updates in the News section of our website when we have more to report.

In the meantime please feel free to provide us with your feedback on what you see happening on our two developments - positive or negative.  Click here to Contact Us.

Let’s all work together to make The Herdwicks a better place to live.  If you can spare a small amount to help fund our work please visit our Fundraising & Donations page.  Every little helps.  Thank you!

 

HGHF-RA Committee

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