Kenilworth defended in Local Plan approval

During the voting for the contentious plans on Wednesday, some district councillors criticised the fact that only 1,230 homes are planned for the town, with almost 12,000 set for Warwick and Leamington.

Cllr George Illingworth said those criticising the number spread were ignoring an important fact.

“We all live in this district and those who live in places such as Offchurch and Burton Green are giving up all the land they need for HS2,” he said.

“It is in everyone’s interests that we are allowed to build in Kenilworth and in order to implement that we need the Local Plan.”

Cllr Michael Coker said development in Kenilworth would see the loss of its Green Belt land as sports clubs make way for housing - echoing the huge impact of HS2.

“I don’t think there has ever been a time when everybody is satisfied with the plan,” he said. We are making a substantial contribution.

“On the other side of Kenilworth we have HS2 taking up an area which will be more than all of the land being used for the Local Plan development.

“Land south of Leamington is simply the only land available on this scale. It doesn’t give me any pleasure to put the houses there but that is where the land is available.

“We can only plan around what is likely to happen and it’s a slow process - we’re not going to have a sudden flush of buildings all over the place.”