Flats approved in Rugby despite parking warnings

All bar one of the apartments will have two bedrooms – the other will have one – and be built across five buildings on the site of a now-demolished Victorian factory on Lower Hillmorton Road, Rugby.

The building was most recently used as a gym before being pulled down with proposals to build apartments knocked back by Rugby Borough Council's planning committee in December 2025 due to worries over parking provision and the knock-on effect on local roads.

At that point only 38 parking spaces were being offered on site, a figure that has been increased to 45 at the expense of cycle parking provision and narrowing footways. It also involves creating a new access off Caldecott Place, which is currently a cul-de-sac, and closing up the current access from Lower Hillmorton Road.

Warwickshire County Council’s highways department initially had concerns over unsafe parking in the area, issues that have been raised by objectors and witnessed by Rugby Borough Council planning staff.

Double yellow lines are going to be put down around the neighbouring junction and part way down Caldecott Street but objectors argue that will only exacerbate already tight parking provision.

Planning officers believe the impact of the yellow lines will be “relatively low” with the harm “outweighed by the benefit resulting from the removal of a parking practice WCC Highways considers unsafe”.

Further data on average car ownership suggests the parking provided with the flats should be enough and the site’s future inclusion in Rugby’s ‘High Access Zone’, where other transport options are more readily available, means the requirement for 51 spaces would no longer apply once the new local plan kicks in.

The combination of those factors led planners to declare themselves satisfied, although a planning condition has been added to monitor the actual impacts on parking in the surrounding area twice after occupation. The developer will be required to “enter into a scheme for parking restrictions” if it becomes a problem.

And with an appeal to a national planning inspector looming large, all bar one councillor on the committee agreed with that assessment.

Councillor Jill Simpson-Vince (Con, Dunsmore) said: “I was one of the councillors who refused this on the parking provision and I still stand by that.

“It shows that if you refuse something, sometimes it comes back a little bit better. It is nowhere near perfect, we are not at 51 spaces. However, if this one went to appeal this would be a much harder one for an inspector to say no to.

“There are more spaces. I don’t think you are going to get any more in that space, we didn’t say (last time) that this shouldn’t be developed, we came back about the parking and they have come back with an amended plan with more spaces.

“They have to mitigate what they create and I think this is as good as it is going to get.”

Councillor Richard Harrington (Lab, Benn) cast the single vote against, arguing the council had not learned from other developments on the periphery of the town that have created parking headaches in the past.

“As someone who used to live with a parking scheme, I know how it feels when there aren’t enough parking spaces,” he said.

“There are going to be issues, there are no two ways about it. I imagine there will be two cars per flat, you will have visitors and friends. We will be going into this reactively, maybe do a parking survey, maybe go into a parking permit scheme, and in the meantime cause pain for the residents.”