LOCAL campaigners have described the proposed Redditch Eastern Gateway development as ‘horrendous’ and questioned the need for it in the first place.
Speaking after developers Stoford held a well-attended public consultation on the plans at the Blue Inn Hotel, Maureen Berry, vice chair of Mappleborough Parish Council, which will be directly affected by the proposals, said: “I thought it was horrendous. They are taking a nice piece of green land and basically turning it into a big warehouse distribution centre.
“It’s going to be a blot on the landscape – and is there the need for it in the first place when you look at the number of empty premises on Moons Moat and along Ravensbank Drive.”
She also predicted there would be traffic gridlock at the proposed new junction joining the Coventry Highway to Gorcott Hill.
However David Brown, a consultant with Stoford, said modelling carried out with the highways authorities predicted that 35 per cent of traffic would go back up the A435 to Junction 3 of the M42 while ‘a large percentage’ would travel west along the Coventry Highway through Redditch.
“Not much is going to be heading south, and in terms of HGVs you’re looking at hardly any,” he said.
“The A435 through Mappleborough Green is very busy as it stands and the county council (Warwickshire) should be working towards doing something about this without this development,” said Mr Brown.
“Traffic is a problem everywhere, it’s just the way of the world.”
He also said Stoford were just the developers and the decision on the go-ahead rested solely with the three local authorities, Redditch borough council and the district councils at Stratford and Bromsgrove.
County Councillor Clive Rickhards (Lib Dem, Studley) condemned Tory-controlled Stratford for agreeing to give up green belt land for the development before adding: “I’m still not convinced by their traffic modelling work.
“They’ve already acknowledged there’s a problem on the A435 so even a marginal increase in traffic is going to be bad news.”
The proposed £85million development on the 74-acre site, known as the Winyates Triangle and Gorcott Hill, could create up to 2,500 new jobs and has been strongly endorsed by Redditch MP Karen Lumley.
Stoford hopes to put in an outline planning application by the end of the year.
4th Jun, 2026
