Plans to convert school building in Warwick into homes get green light

These new plans from Wake Green (Warwick) Limited were given the go ahead via a delegated decision by Warwick District Council last week.

The developer submitted the latest plans in April.

Back in 2020, Warwick District Council granted permission for plans to demolish and convert the old King’s High School buildings in the town into houses and flats.

The school relocated to its new Banbury Road location from the Smith Street site in July 2019 after being there for 140 years.

Part of the plans were for the Priory Block on Chapel Street, formerly the science block, to be demolished to make way for more homes.

However in October 2022, developer Wake Green Limited submitted a new planning application to keep the current three-storey building and instead convert it into homes, as well as building three extra houses to the rear of the site.

The plans were thrown out by district planners earlier in March for several reasons including; the impact the townhouses would have on nearby houses as the development “would result in a harmful overbearing impact, detrimental to the amenity of existing residents”.

The decision notice also cited concerns about potential noise impacts on the new properties.

Planners also said the parking was an issue due to the size of the spaces.

The newest application was looking to convert the three-storey building into four homes instead of the former five in the previous application.

In the planning decision report it said: "In this case, the proposal retains the existing structure and overall scale of the building and would represent a more sustainable form of development by re-using the existing frame.

"I am satisfied with the retention of the existing building and the renovation works to re-use the structure.

“Whilst it does retain the overall height along the frontage and will remain higher than the adjacent property, this maintains the current position on the site.

"The proposal does increase the height to provide a new, more appropriate pitched roof structure.”