Kenilworth to get more student accommodation at Waverley Road site

The building will be refurbished and extended, and will consist of eight en-suite bedrooms and a kitchen. There will be no parking for residents on the site, but they will be able to access the building through the car park of the Indian Ark restaurant in Warwick Road.

Although two speakers voiced their concerns at WDC’s meeting on Tuesday February 2, the application generated no debate from councillors and was approved without opposition.

Jen Adams, whose property backs onto where the accommodation will be built, said the students will need to park somewhere, and that there was no advantage for students to live in Kenilworth as opposed to Coventry.

Sadikur Chowdhory, who runs Indian Ark, said his landlords had not told him about the use of the restaurant’s car park to access the new building.

This was rebuffed by the chairman of the planning committee, Cllr John Cooke (Con, St John’s), who said this was a legal matter and was not for the planning committee to deal with.

Once the speakers had finished, Cllr Martyn Ashford (Con, Aylesford) said: “To be honest I can’t see a problem with this application,” which was not opposed by any other councillors. The plans were subsequently approved.

Planning officers had recommended the plans for approval because the impacts on the character and appearance of the area, road safety and living conditions of neighbouring properties would all be acceptable.

Kenilworth Town Council also recommended the plans be approved because it thought the plans were ‘imaginative’.

Former plans to demolish the existing building and construct two three-bedroom family houses in its place were refused by the planning committee in October 2015.

This was due to the potential harm to the character and appearance of the area, as well as the lack of parking provision for the houses.