Houlton | |
---|---|
Completed housing at Houlton | |
Location within Warwickshire | |
OS grid reference | SP553736 |
Civil parish | |
District | |
Shire county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | RUGBY |
Postcode district | CV23 1 |
Dialling code | 01788 |
Police | Warwickshire |
Fire | Warwickshire |
Ambulance | West Midlands |
UK Parliament | |
Houlton is a large housing development to the east of Rugby, Warwickshire, England. It is located between the Rugby suburb of Hillmorton, Warwickshire and Crick, Northamptonshire, west of the A5 road and M1 motorway.
Between 1926 and 2007 the site on which most of the development sits was part of the Rugby Radio Station. It was on this site that the first commercial transatlantic telephone service signal was transmitted in 1927, to the American Telephone and Telegraph receiver site in Houlton, Maine, USA, the American town after which its English counterpart is named. [1] [2]
In December 2017 the first residents moved in. The development is expected to take 15 years to complete, and when it is, there are expected to be 6,200 houses. [3]
There are several community features in the development. Dollman Farm is a restored farmhouse which greatly pre-dates the new estate and is used as a visitor information centre. [4] The Barn is a community centre/village hall which holds communal classes and clubs and can be hired for parties or events. [5] The Tuning Fork is a restaurant/cafe which is open to the public. [6] Nearby is a large adventure play area. Finally a new primary school has been opened, St Gabriel's CofE Academy, [7] named after the patron saint of communications.
Future plans include the building of two further primary schools and a GP's surgery. A 1.5-mile link road opened in late 2019 and has made access to Rugby town centre easier for residents as it bypasses Hillmorton. [8]
In October 2019 planning permission was granted for a new £39m 11-18 secondary school, including Sixth Form, to be named Houlton School, [9] which includes the Grade II listed former radio station buildings, as well as three new teaching blocks. The secondary school will have spaces for around 1,200 pupils. Opened in September 2021, initially to Year 7 pupils, [10]
In December 2019, a planning application was submitted to build a new David Lloyd Leisure centre which will include a health, fitness and racquets club and is yet to be approved. [11] In September 2020 the application was approved.
The A5 trunk road and Junction 18 of the M1 motorway are within 1.5 miles of the estate. The nearest railway station (Rugby) is four miles away, located on the West Coast Main Line. It offers direct trains to cities such as London, Birmingham, Glasgow and Holyhead. [12] Nearby bus routes include the Coventry to Northampton 96 and the Rugby to Northampton D2. The 78-mile long Oxford Canal, connecting Oxford and Hawkesbury Junction, borders the site and links with the Grand Union Canal. [13] Birmingham Airport is located 27 miles away.
Rugby Parkway railway station is a proposed station that will be much closer to Houlton than the main Rugby one, near the site of the former Kilsby and Crick station. In July 2019 Warwickshire County Council's Draft Rail Strategy for 2019-2034 proposed that the station would be opened between 2019 and 2026. [14]
In September 2022, the national Observer newspaper gave coverage to Houlton in a piece entitled "Houlton Rugby: a new town that’s sending out all the right signals" by Rowan Moore. [15] The article praised the development as offering 'thoughtful planning, nature on the doorstep – and a secondary school with shades of Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall’', and went on to praise the development as offering 'as serious a contribution', to the national housing crisis 'in both quality and quantity, as any organisation in the private sector has been able to think up.' [16]
The Oxford Canal is a 78-mile (126 km) narrowboat canal in southern central England linking the City of Oxford with the Coventry Canal at Hawkesbury via Banbury and Rugby. Completed in 1790, it connects to the River Thames at Oxford, and links with the Grand Union Canal, which it is combined with for 5 miles (8 km) between to the villages of Braunston and Napton-on-the-Hill.
Rugby is a market town in eastern Warwickshire, England, close to the River Avon. At the 2021 census, its population was 78,117, making it the second-largest town in Warwickshire. It is the main settlement within the larger Borough of Rugby, which had a population of 114,400 in 2021.
The M1 motorway connects London to Leeds, where it joins the A1(M) near Aberford, to connect to Newcastle. It was the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the UK; the first motorway in the country was the Preston Bypass, which later became part of the M6.
Daventry is a market town and civil parish in the West Northamptonshire unitary authority area of Northamptonshire, England, close to the border with Warwickshire. At the 2021 Census, Daventry had a population of 28,123.
Nuneaton is a market town in Warwickshire, England, close to the county border with Leicestershire to the north-east. Nuneaton's population at the 2021 census was 88,813, making it the largest town in Warwickshire. Nuneaton's urban area, which also includes the large villages of Bulkington and Hartshill, had a population of 99,372 at the 2021 census.
Lutterworth is an historic market town and civil parish in the Harborough district of Leicestershire, England. The town is located in southern Leicestershire, close to the borders with Warwickshire and Northamptonshire. It is located 6.5 miles north of Rugby and 12 miles south of Leicester. At the 2021 UK census, Lutterworth had a population of 10,833.
Warwickshire is a ceremonial county in the West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire to the south, and Worcestershire and the West Midlands county to the west. The largest settlement is Nuneaton and the county town is Warwick.
The A45 is a major road in England. It runs east from Birmingham past the National Exhibition Centre and the M42, then bypasses Coventry and Rugby, where it briefly merges with the M45 until it continues to Daventry. It then heads to Northampton and Wellingborough before running north of Rushden and Higham Ferrers and terminating at its junction with the A14 in Thrapston.
Crick is a village in West Northamptonshire in England. It is close to the border with Warwickshire, six miles east of Rugby and 14 miles (23 km) northwest of Northampton. The villages of Crick and West Haddon were by-passed by the A428 main road from Rugby to Northampton when the Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal (DIRFT) was built in 1996. The terminal is a short distance east of junction 18 of the M1 motorway, which is next to Crick. Crick's population in the 2001 census was 1,460, increasing to 1,886 at the 2011 census.
Rugby Radio Station was a large British government radio transmission facility just east of the Hillmorton area of the town of Rugby, Warwickshire in England. The site straddled the A5 trunk road, with most of it in Warwickshire, and part on the other side of the A5 in Northamptonshire. First opened in 1926, at its height in the 1950s it was the largest radio transmitting station in the world, with a total of 57 radio transmitters, covering an area of 1,600 acres (650 ha). Traffic slowly dwindled from the 1980s onwards, and the site was closed between 2003 and 2007.
Hillmorton is a suburb of Rugby, Warwickshire, England, around 2 miles (3.2 km) south-east of Rugby town centre, forming much of the eastern half of the town. It is also a ward of the Borough of Rugby. Hillmorton was historically a village in its own right, but was incorporated into Rugby in 1932. Hillmorton also encompasses the Paddox housing estate to the west of the old village, which is shown on many maps as 'Hillmorton Paddox', this area however is part of a separate ward called 'Paddox'.
The Northampton loop is a railway line serving the town of Northampton. It is a branch of the West Coast Main Line, deviating from the faster direct main line which runs to the west. The WCML is a four track line up to either end of the Loop: the 'up' and 'down' fast tracks take the direct route while the 'up' and 'down' slow tracks are diverted via Northampton railway station. Generally, fast express trains run via the direct line, while freight and slower passenger services run via the loop line.
The A428 road is a major road in central and eastern England. It runs between the cities of Coventry and Cambridge by way of the county towns of Northampton and Bedford. Together with the A421,, the eastern section of the A428 forms the route between Cambridge and Oxford. The A428 was formerly part of the main route from Birmingham to Felixstowe before the A14 was fully opened in 1993.
Ashlawn School, is a large partially selective secondary school located in the Hillmorton area of Rugby, Warwickshire, England that specialises in science, computing and leadership. It is one of only five bilateral schools in England for students aged 11–18. Ashlawn is a member of the Transforming Lives Educational Trust (TLET) family of schools.
Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal (DIRFT) is a rail-road intermodal freight terminal with an associated warehousing estate in Northamptonshire, England. The facility is located at the junctions between the M1 motorway, A5 and A428 roads, 4 miles (6 km) east of Rugby and 6 miles (10 km) north of Daventry; it has a rail connection from the Northampton loop of the West Coast Main Line.
This is about the history of the town of Rugby, Warwickshire, England.
Clifton-upon-Dunsmore is a village and civil parish in the Rugby borough of Warwickshire in England on the north-eastern outskirts of Rugby, approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) from Rugby town centre. The population of the parish taken at the 2011 census was 1,304, increasing to 2,991 at the 2021 census. Clifton is counted as being part of the Rugby built-up area, but is considered separate from the town. The parish also includes the new development of Houlton to the south of the old village, which may account for the large population increase since 2011.
Rugby Parkway is a proposed railway station in Houlton on the eastern outskirts of Rugby, promoted by Warwickshire County Council. It was the subject of a high level feasibility study which recommended the station to be located on the Northampton Loop Line, near the Hillmorton area of Rugby, and close to new housing in Houlton and DIRFT.
Rugby services is a motorway service station operated by Moto Hospitality and situated at junction 1 of the M6 motorway in Warwickshire, England.
Houlton School is a co-educational secondary school and sixth form located in Houlton, Warwickshire, England. The school's buildings have been developed on the historic site of the Rugby Radio Station. Designed to serve 1,100 students, the school opened on 1 September 2021 with its first cohort of 180 year 7 students.