One plan from 2016, and nothing behind it.
The Core Strategy adopted in July 2016 decides applications. The Site Allocations Plan meant to follow it was withdrawn by full Council in April 2026.
Read moreRIBA Chartered · Warwickshire
Architects in Stratford-upon-Avon.
Villages, farmsteads and barns across a wide rural district, under one council years short of housing land.
Selected work in Stratford-on-Avon District
Village home · Napton-on-the-Hill
The Woods
Re-dressed to the village, environmental design intact, consented at committee.
View project
Barn conversion · South Warwickshire
A South Warwickshire barn
Two consents drawn to lock into each other, in both directions.
View project
Farmstead · Southam
Brooklands Farm
Three homes on a redundant farmyard, and a consent that nearly ran out.
View project
Replacement house · Priors Hardwick
Hollow Meadow Farmhouse
A discouraging pre-application, then consent at the first attempt.
View project
Self-build home · Moreton Morrell
Oaktree Close
A single-storey home in a conservation area, granted first time and built.
View projectPlanning in Stratford-on-Avon District · 01
Know what the council will ask for.
Stratford-on-Avon decides on a core strategy adopted in 2016, with no allocations plan behind it and a joint replacement that went to its final consultation in 2026. Six things shape most schemes in the district.
Two point four three years, against a five year test.
The council's own calculation puts the district at 2.43 years of deliverable housing land at 31 March 2026, which opens up well-related sites on the edge of its towns and villages.
Read moreThe council has published which of its policies still hold.
An Interim Policy Position Statement of 1 June 2026 sets out, policy by policy, what carries weight while the land supply is short. It names the policies that are out of date, and the ones that are not.
Read moreSix homes, not eleven, across most of the district.
Thirty-five per cent is the requirement. Outside ten named parishes the threshold falls to six homes, because most of the district is a designated rural area.
Read moreFive neighbourhood plans still count on housing.
Made neighbourhood plans cover much of the district and are part of the statutory development plan, but the council's own June 2026 review leaves five carrying full weight on housing supply.
Read moreCross from ten homes to eleven and the levy doubles.
On the 2026 indexed rates a scheme of ten homes or fewer is charged 94.93 pounds per square metre. At eleven it is charged 189.86 across the whole scheme.
Read moreStratford-on-Avon District Council policy, correct at October 2026. The housing land figure is restated every year and the South Warwickshire plan had its final consultation in the summer of 2026, so we re-check both at the point of application.
The proof
Consented at the first application.
Brooklands Farm, Southam
Three homes on a redundant farmyard: the brick barn retained and converted, two new houses beside it. Full permission was granted in December 2021, under four months after it was submitted and without an appeal. When the consent came within weeks of expiring, foundations were laid and the start certified as lawful.
See the work
Every application we make is a matter of public record on a council planning register. Ours reach more than 100 planning authorities across the UK, and Stratford-on-Avon District has been receiving applications in our name since 2000. The practice has been working since 1970.
Who we work with · 02
Start from what you are building.
Developers, homeowners and commercial clients all need the same first answer: what will this site take? The route to it changes with the project.
For developers
Village sites, farmsteads and redundant agricultural buildings, from residential architects who design schemes that are viable and buildable, with the planning case built in from the first sketch.
Residential developmentFor homeowners
Extensions, remodels and barn conversions, designed around how you live and around the countryside policy that decides what a village or country house may become.
Private homesCommercial and mixed-use
Shops, offices, care schemes and change of use, from commercial architects who argue the case with the evidence Stratford-on-Avon District expects to see.
Commercial workWhy Rickett · 03
Start a conversation Why clients come back.
Work with a team that has already built here.
A replacement house built at Priors Hardwick. Three homes consented on a redundant farmyard at Southam. A white lias barn consented as a single house. Yours would not be our first application to this council, or our first building in open countryside.
Get to a decision sooner.
Straight to a complete, valid submission. The delays that cost a programme are the avoidable ones, not the statutory clock.
A lead architect, start to finish.
A lead architect is involved from the first conversation to the last drawing. The team that starts your scheme stays with it, so nothing is passed down a chain.
Know the site before you commit to it.
An architect who knows what a council needs to see, and when to push back, appraises the site properly and openly.
Conservation area Open countrysideKnow which policies still hold.
The council has published, policy by policy, what carries weight while its land supply is short. The paragraph of AS.10 that resists other development around villages and in open countryside is out of date for housing, and settlement boundaries in most neighbourhood plans carry significantly reduced weight. That changes what is worth arguing.
affordable housing housing mix village scale limits countryside restraintSpend once the risk is down, not before.
We stage costs behind certainty. Each commitment waits for the decision that justifies it, so nothing is spent on a scheme that has not earned it.
appraisal consent your spendLet someone else hold the list.
From first appraisal to final discharge, every survey, report and condition is tracked for you. You are not the one chasing an ecologist in week nine.
Ecology surveyReport inCondition 7tracked to dischargeWorking on a site in Stratford-upon-Avon?
Tell us about it and a Senior Architect will give you an initial appraisal and guide you as to what to do next.
Start a conversationCommon questions · 04
Questions about building in Stratford-upon-Avon.
Do you work on projects in Stratford-upon-Avon?
Yes. Southam, Priors Hardwick, Napton-on-the-Hill, Kineton, Harbury, Wellesbourne, Preston Bagot and Earlswood are all places the practice has worked. Applications in our name have been going to Stratford-on-Avon District Council since 2000, and they sit on the registers of more than 100 planning authorities across the UK.
Does Stratford-on-Avon District Council have a five year housing land supply?
No, and the gap is a wide one. The council's own calculation puts the district at 2.43 years of deliverable supply at 31 March 2026, against a local housing need of 1,084 homes a year, up from 553 before the standard method changed in December 2024. Under the August 2026 national framework, that opens up well-related housing sites on the edge of the district's towns and villages. Housing inside a town or village starts from a presumption in its favour whatever the supply. Heritage, landscape and highway safety still decide applications here. The figure is restated every year, so check the latest one before you rely on it.
Which Stratford-on-Avon planning policies are out of date?
The council has published the answer itself, in an Interim Policy Position Statement endorsed on 1 June 2026. The restrictive paragraph of Policy AS.10, which resists other development around villages and in the open countryside, is treated as out of date where housing is proposed, and stays up to date for everything else. The spatial strategy in CS.15 and the limits on the scale of development in service villages in CS.16 are also out of date. Affordable housing, housing mix, the protection of existing stock and the brownfield policy all still carry full weight.
How much affordable housing does a scheme in Stratford-on-Avon have to provide?
Thirty-five per cent, and the threshold is lower than most people expect. In ten named parishes, which include Stratford-upon-Avon itself, Southam, Wellesbourne, Kineton and Alcester, provision starts at eleven homes, or at six to ten homes on a site over half a hectare where combined floorspace exceeds 1,000 square metres. Every other parish in the district counts as a designated rural area, and off-site provision is sought from six homes.
What does the Community Infrastructure Levy cost in Stratford-on-Avon?
It doubles at eleven homes. On the 2026 indexed rates a scheme of ten homes or fewer is charged 94.93 pounds per square metre, and one of eleven or more is charged 189.86 pounds per square metre across the whole scheme, so the eleventh home adds far more to the bill than its own floorspace. Gaydon and Lighthorne Heath, Long Marston Airfield and the Canal Quarter are charged differently, care homes and most other floorspace are nil, and the rate applied is the one in force when the application is determined.
Can I convert a barn in the Stratford-on-Avon district?
Often, by one of two routes, and they are not interchangeable. Class Q prior approval is a national permitted development right with fixed tests on structure, size and location, decided on a short clock, and its limits were tightened in May 2024. A full planning application is judged against the local plan instead, where the countryside policy now carries less weight for housing. Which route suits a building is worth settling before any drawing is made, because the tests decide what the building can become.
My building is in a Stratford-on-Avon conservation area. What changes?
The evidence you have to bring. The district contains 75 conservation areas and more than 3,000 listed buildings, so designation is ordinary here, and a case officer will expect the character of the area to be read properly before a design is proposed. That means a heritage statement identifying what actually contributes to the area, not a paragraph asserting that a scheme is in keeping.
