The Stratford Core Strategy Inspector’s Report, 2016, considered that reinstatement of the southbound rail link would: “provide a long-term solution to the town’s traffic congestion. There can be no question that the service would provide a sustainable alternative to the use of the private car for many residents and visitors.”

The landmark DfT, Standing Advisory Committee on Trunk Road Assessment (SACTRA) report Dec 1994, concluded that after 40 years of building roads to meet demand, it was a failed policy.

When a new road is built, new traffic will quickly fill it up. Some will be diverted from other roads, but many people will make trips they would otherwise not make and will travel longer distances just because of the presence of the new road.

This well-known and long-established effect is known as ‘induced traffic’ which means that the predicted congestion benefits of a new road are very quickly eroded. Traffic on bypassed roads often also rises faster than expected all of which means the promised congestion benefits of a new road can evaporate very quickly.

Road traffic accounts for 72% of total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from transport (73% of passenger-kilometres), aviation accounts for 14% (8% of passenger-kilometres), and rail accounts for less than 1% (6% of passenger-kilometres).

Road transport accounts for 80% of Nitrogen Dioxide emissions and rail just 1.6%. NO2 emissions account for 29,000 premature UK deaths pa.
(*European Environment Agency (2019), ‘Share of transport greenhouse gas emissions’, data visualization.)

The Government has a 2050 target to reduce emissions by 80%. Poor air quality is a major influence on public health, causing problems for those with respiratory illnesses and cardio-respiratory conditions.

Stratford Area car ownership is high compared to county-wide and national levels, which itself translates into high car dependency for travel to work (71% compared to 59% national average). (Stratford Area Transport Strategy 2018).

The ‘Transport for New Homes,’ report on Garden Villages, 2020. The BBC gave it national coverage with the headline, “Garden villages locking-in car dependency”.

Case Study: Long Marston Garden Village

Long Marston is a proposed 3,500 home Garden Village within the Stratford-upon-Avon District of Warwickshire. It is typical of Garden Villages in that it is far from major population and employment centres. Located on a former airfield, this Garden Village will be particularly remote and without a sustainable scale will not support amenities, jobs or public transport. It is seven miles from the nearest railway station. Residents will have no option other than the car to see friends, get to work or buy a pint of milk. Visions of ‘express bus connections’ are without funding. There are also unfunded aspirations for new safe walking and cycling routes from the development, but even if they were provided there is little other than open space nearby. This is a good example of a new development in the wrong place.”

Stratford-on-Avon District – The last 10 years has seen a 15.2% rise in cars + an additional 10,732 cars since 2001. Almost 50% of households in Stratford District had 2+ more cars. Driving to work by car, the most common form of commuting with 67.8%* or 41,227 of the working population aged 16+. This is higher than the national average of 57.5% (Warwickshire Observatory 2011).