A TWO-WEEK public consultation on the new link road under the South West Rugby development plan begins this Friday, 3rd December 2021.

The consultation starts with an event in the club room at Dunchurch Village Hall from 2pm to 8pm this Friday.

The ‘Homestead Link’ road is due to connect onto the A426 (Rugby Road) with a new roundabout, before heading west to connect with Alwyn Road and Cawston Lane. It will then turn south, crossing over the Northampton Lane byway, to join the B4429 (Coventry Road) to the west of Dunchurch.

The new road is due to be completed by 2026.

Government agency Homes England is now seeking the community’s views on their detailed proposal for the road and its landscape corridor. Homes England said the purpose of the consultation was not to test the need for the road or its location.

The agency wrote: “Homes England is preparing a planning application to create a new link road in the Dunchurch area to support the planned development of the South West Rugby Urban Extension. This new link will help to ease traffic through the area as it grows and includes a significant landscaped corridor.”

The Homestead Link was included in the South West Rugby masterplan, adopted by Rugby Borough Council in June 2021.

An early concept plan for the road submitted in 2017 shows the road access to Cawston Lane being removed at the junction with Northampton Lane. It also shows a green buffer to the south of the Homestead Link road, separating Dunchurch from the road. But all of the land to the north of the Homestead Link and south of Bilton is earmarked for housing development.

According to the South West Rugby Supplementary Planning Document the road is needed by 2026 to ‘mitigate the transport impact of the development on the surrounding highway network’, including the Dunchurch crossroads.

The same document, adopted by Rugby Borough Council in June this year, says: “development proposals will not be granted planning permission for implementation ahead of the delivery of the east – west Homestead Link, unless demonstrated in accordance with the NPPF that any residual impacts on the highway network are not considered to be severe, to the agreement of both the local highway authority and the local planning authority.”

The cost of the road will be met by the developers at South West Rugby through section 106 contributions. Homes England will provide the money in advance for the road, and will then recover that money from the developers as each part of the development takes place. Neither Rugby Borough Council nor Warwickshire County Council will be funding the road.

There will also be a virtual consultation for people to share their views online. It opens at 9am on Friday and will be available for two weeks.

Take part in the online consultation.