Case Study: Planning for the Belfry’s future
 One of Denis Wilson’s greatest strengths is our ability to add value to our clients’ immediate needs by simply thinking a few steps ahead. We believe that anticipating potential problems from the start is the key to a successful, practical and cost-effective solution.
A good example of this approach is the redevelopment scheme at Warwickshire’s prestigious Belfry golf, conference and leisure complex. Here we provided a range of services which included a comprehensive Travel Assessment, an Event Management Strategy and a Travel Plan.
From the outset we worked closely with the Highways Agency and Warwickshire County Council to design a highways scheme that would accommodate the Belfry’s needs post-redevelopment. A key consideration of this scheme was the incorporation of sustainable travel solutions that allowed visitors and staff to reach the site by means other than the car.
Rather than just look for fairly obvious solutions, our plans for the road network and junction designs were drawn up with land ownership in mind, whether it was owned by the Belfry itself or land that was already designated as ‘highway’. Our proposed design was developed to make the best use of this land, cutting down costs and avoiding any delays that could have been caused by buying additional land. The design also took into account the impact of construction on the Belfry’s guests and local road users so any disruption was kept to an absolute minimum.
One of the main concerns from an environmental point of view was the provision of parking facilities. The local authority wanted the number of spaces limited to 1,240, but our calculations had shown that 1,600 spaces were needed if the redevelopment was to be both economical and efficient.
We argued that there wouldn’t be any adverse environmental impact as the average length of visitor stay would increase when the redevelopment was complete, so although there would be more cars parked on site, there wouldn’t necessarily be any increase in daily traffic flow. The visual impact of extra parking was also addressed through our recommendation to move 900 of the Belfry’s spaces underground.
As part of our overall involvement our team made a valuable contribution to the environmental statement, supplying traffic data for noise and air quality assessments, and additional information on the potential pollution issues of highway drainage.
The planning application for the redevelopment was supported by North Warwickshire Borough Council before being referred to the Government for consideration at a national level. The Government decided that a Public Inquiry was not necessary and formal approval was granted in early 2008.
Testimonial
“Denis Wilson played a tremendous part in securing planning for the new Belfry development, especially as I believe it is quite unique for a development on this scale to receive such overwhelming support without a single objection.
“We could not have achieved this without the hard work and commitment from the Denis Wilson team over the past two and a half years and I appreciate the lengths they went to, ensuring that no stone was unturned and that we ticked all the right boxes.”
– Sean Quinn, Managing Director, Quinn Group
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