The master plan was agreed by Warwick District Council in 2017. It represents a balanced response to the opportunities and threats posed at St. Mary’s Lands. It recognises there may be a need to invest in developments that support the wider economy, such as a hotel and expansion of the caravan park, but where any such need exists, it cannot be at the detriment to the greenspace. Any such development must respond to the sense of place and the multi-purpose sporting, recreational and leisure use of this important public open space.

The need to plan for the replacement of dated facilities, such as the Golf Centre, Corp of Drums, Racing Club Warwick Football Club, and facilities at the Racecourse afforded the opportunity to significantly address the poor quality and often ad-hoc decisions of the past with an approach that is more in keeping with the Conservation Area. Common ground has been found on these issues across the range of interests represented by the St. Mary’s Lands Working Party and the master plan captures this broad consensus.

Vision

Our vision is a future for St. Mary’s Lands where the natural and cultural heritage is protected and enhanced – where a vibrant range of community uses, economic regeneration and environmental enhancement thrive together in this inspiring natural setting.

Objectives

  1. To manage, enhance and promote the landscape character of St. Mary's Lands, including increasing its biodiversity
  2. To manage, enhance and promote St. Mary's Lands as a green space distinctly different to the more formal parks and open spaces in Warwick, ensuring access is maintained and enhanced to a large area of more natural open space within walking distance of the town centre
  3. To promote St. Mary's Lands as a visitor destination, where any such increase in visitor numbers are compatible with preserving and protecting the site's landscape quality, biodiversity and sense of place
  4. To support the many organisations that contribute to the broader community needs or local economy, where such support does not lead to a loss of landscape quality, biodiversity or sense of place

The master plan is not against change; indeed, it recognises that change is often an essential ingredient in sustaining a relevance to the community the open space serves. 

Committees

Throughout its creation, the master plan has been discussed and scrutinised at a number of Warwick District Council’s Committees.

Consultation

The master plan underwent an extensive consultation process, with a consultation document produced alongside a public exhibition at Shire Hall, Warwick from 20 – 27 May 2016, and at Warwick Market on 28 May 2016. The consultation also ran online, and presentations were made to the Warwick Society, Warwick Town Council and The Friends of St Mary's Lands. 198 people completed the detailed questionnaire, with nearly 600 people attending the exhibitions. In addition, 492 people visited our web page regarding the consultation.

Public meeting

A public question & answer session was held on the St Mary's Lands master plan at Warwick Town Council, The Ballroom, The Courthouse, Jury Street in Warwick. Members of the public were invited to come along and find out what is in the master plan and ask any questions. In total, 80 residents, councillors and business owners attended the meeting.

A full summary of the questions and answers from the public session is available at St Mary's lands Q&As.

The consultation outcomes were presented to the Council’s Executive in November 2016.

St Mary’s Lands Working Party

The St Mary’s Lands Working Party was established at the request of the District Council, to be responsible for producing the Master plan. It is made up of representatives from different groups in Warwick, to ensure the views of all users would be included in the consultation process. The Friends of St Mary’s Lands (FSML) was one of those user groups.

Nigel Hamilton and Anthony Butcher who were in the FSML group at the time, were both elected onto the St Mary’s Lands Working Party to ensure representation of that user group.

Throughout the development of the Master plan, the FSML received regular reports and notes from the Working Party meetings. They were also consulted regularly to gauge their opinions on the Working Party proposals. 

Further consultation included;

  • An Annual General Meeting with resolutions
  • Special meetings with detailed presentations by Colin Burden from Plincke, to the Warwick Society and Warwick Town Council
  • An online survey showing nearly 73% of the public supported the Master plan
  • All the public stages of St Mary's Lands Working Party plans were posted to the FSML website

The Master plan also had the support of the then FSML Committee, with regular voting in favour of the strategy put forward, both verbally and in a formal written position paper to the Working Party and this was made available to the general FSML membership.

Implementation of the Master Plan

The masterplan was proposed to be implemented via 22 projects. Since its adoption in 2017, the Working Party has overseen the implementation of the Master plan. A large number of elements have been undertaken; this includes the following (but this is not an exhaustive list):

  • Improved footpath and signage including alongside Gog Brook;
  • Improvements to the Corps of Drums facility;
  • Replacement changing facilities at Racing Club Warwick;
  • Installation of a MUGA and an All Weather pitch at Racing Club Warwick;
  • Extension to Hill Close Gardens and its setting improved;
  • Improvements to the Golf Centre including public accessible toilet facilities
  • New entrance to the racecourse;
  • Revised and improved layout and short stay parking at entrance to St Marys Lands;
  • Missing section of national cycleway network/safe rotes to school completed;
  • Ambulance track resurfaced and made accessible;
  • Review of and implementation of arrangements for model flying craft;
  • Enhancements to existing reservoir and integration into Jubilee Woods.

There are some elements of the master plan remain to be implemented but at this juncture of particular interest to many is the additional steps taken to protect the habitat of ground nesting birds in the lower centre of St Mary’s Lands.

Ground nesting birds at St Mary’s Lands

As part of the review of arrangements for model flying craft, a study was undertaken to assess the potential impact on ground nesting birds such as skylarks.  This work found less of an issue with model aircraft and more of an issue of disturbance by people and dogs.  This was then followed by a number of years of installing temporary barriers (from February to August each year) to prevent such disturbances during the birds nesting period.  Before making a long term decision to Council agreed to an independent study by BTO to provide an evaluation.  As part of that study a series of surveys were carried out in 2025 across the site to assess the use of it by birds, such as:

  • Skylark (endangered – UK birds of conservation concern red list species)
  • Meadow Pipit (populations in decline – UK amber list species)
  • Reed Bunting (threatened by habitat loss – UK amber list species)

The report has been prepared by the BTO to outline the findings and make recommendations for the future. In 2026, we plan to temporarily fence these important habitats once more whilst we collect and assess more information. BTO will undertake research again in 2026 leading to a set of recommendations for the longer term future in the autumn of 2026 to then be considered by the Council.

Local wildlife volunteers have also made observations over this past year and it is hoped they will be similarly active over the years ahead.

St Mary's Lands Ground Nesting Birds Survey 2025

We will be installing temporary fencing in February 2026 for the breeding season.

Supporting Documents

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