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Approval for controversial plans for new home by Kenilworth roundabout despite safety concerns

Local News by James Smith 21st May 2026  
The new home can now be built next to St Johns Roundabout (image by Nub News)
The new home can now be built next to St Johns Roundabout (image by Nub News)
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Councillors have given the go-ahead for a new home to be built on a busy Kenilworth roundabout despite the town council saying it is not safe.

Warwick District Council's planning committee this week approved an application for a bungalow on a plot of land behind Warwick Road, next to St Johns roundabout.

A previous scheme to build two houses there was withdrawn last year after concerns were raised about the design and the noise impact on local households.

Since then a new application for just one house has been submitted, with officers at the local authority recommending it be approved.

Kenilworth Town Council objected to the development, with Cllr Adrian Marsh telling his district colleagues the scheme should be thrown out.

"Kenilworth Town Council objects to this proposal on three grounds: highways safety, overdevelopment and poor residential amenity," he told the committee.

"The most serious concern is safety.

"The proposed dwelling would exit onto St Johns gyratory, a busy, constrained, one-way roundabout used by high volumes of cars, buses, lorries, pedestrians and cyclists.

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"Visibility is limited and traffic merges unpredictably.

"Conditions are already challenging. Introducing more vehicle movements at this point would increase conflict, congestion and the risk of accidents."

However, with Warwickshire County Council's highways team saying the new access would be safe, the committee voted unanimously in favour of granting planning permission.

Cllr James Kennedy said: "I have some sympathy about the access.

"I have been using the roundabout on a regular basis, it is not easy.

"But as I understand it from the report, county highways have said they have no objections to the use of that access and therefore we are not really able to refuse it on the basis."

There were also objections from seven locals included issues around access, flooding and the impact on neighbours' amenity.

Click here to see the council report in full.

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The house would be built behind Warwick Road (image via planning application)

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Comments (1)

This discussion is now closed for comments.

Orion.field

It’s incredibly frustrating to see local knowledge ignored yet again.
This decision proves that the planning system is a quasi-legal process, not a democratic one.

​It doesn't matter if every person in Kenilworth knows that pulling onto the St Johns roundabout is a nightmare, once the "experts" at Highways sign it off on paper, the committee’s hands are tied. They’re more afraid of a developer’s legal appeal and the resulting costs than they are of the residents' actual safety concerns.

We live here and drive these roads every day, but in this system, a technical report will always outvote common sense.


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