Land east of Cromwell Lane
Burton Green, Warwickshire
Public consultation
Planning context
This page sets out the context for the application, what an outline planning application involves, why new homes are needed in this area, and how this site is considered within the current planning framework.
What is an outline planning application?
An outline planning application establishes the principle of development on a site, while also setting the framework for how it can come forward, including the arrangement of development parcels, green infrastructure and other key components.
This outline application seeks detailed approval for site access only, which will be taken from Cromwell Lane.
Site location plan
Why do we need more homes here?
Warwick District, and the broader South Warwickshire area, face an evidenced shortage of housing, particularly affordable homes.
To tackle this, councils are required to demonstrate they have enough land identified and available to build at least five years' worth of new homes (known as a "5-year housing land supply"). Warwick District Council currently falls well short of this requirement, with only 1.96 years' worth of land available (as of December 2025), less than half of what is needed.
The number of new homes a council must plan for is set by central government (the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government), and is based on factors like local demand, house price affordability, and population growth. For Warwick District, this target is 1,112 new homes per year.
Warwick District and Stratford District are in the early stages of preparing the South Warwickshire Local Plan (‘SWLP’). This is expected to be adopted towards the end of 2027.
The site benefits from strong connectivity to Burton Green, Westwood Heath, Coventry city centre (approximately 8 km to the north-east), Kenilworth (5 km), and Balsall Common (5 km), as well as access to public transport. This level of accessibility makes this site a sustainable and well-located option for contributing towards identified local housing needs.
Public transport connections
Tile Hill railway station is located at the northern end of Cromwell Lane, around 1 km from the site. The station is served by three trains per hour in each direction on weekdays (approximately 67 services per day), and two trains per hour on Sundays. Journey times are highly convenient, with the fastest service to Birmingham taking just 21 minutes and Coventry reachable in only 6 minutes. Overall, this level of accessibility makes land east of Cromwell Lane a sustainable and well-located option for contributing towards identified local housing needs.
Local facilities and services Click to enlarge
Is the site Green Belt?
The site is currently designated as Green Belt. The Green Belt is a planning classification for land around settlements where development is normally restricted and can only be released in exceptional circumstances. However, the Government’s revised National Planning Policy Framework introduced ‘grey belt’ - land which makes a limited contribution to the five purposes of the Green Belt.
In Warwick, there is not enough brownfield land to meet the annual housing target of 1,112 new homes. As a result, some areas of the Green Belt must be released to deliver much-needed housing for local people, which is considered an exceptional circumstance, enabling development on the Green Belt or sites comprising grey belt. This is already recognised locally, in the adopted Warwick Plan, the Crest Nicholson site was released from the Green Belt for development, and the Westwood Heath site was safeguarded for future development. Both sites now form draft allocation COV 1 in the emerging South Warwickshire Local Plan (SWLP), which proposes 3,940 dwellings, further demonstrating the acknowledged need to release Green Belt land in this area to meet housing.
The site is considered to be grey belt and the proposals will meet the golden rules set out in the national planning policy and the case for this will be set out as part of the planning application submission.