Town councillors have deferred making a decision on a £500,000 application to help build an all-weather running track at the new Kenilworth School.

Members at last week's finance and general services committee meeting of Kenilworth Town Council said the school needed to provide more information before a decision was made on the request for CIL funding.

And councillors also said it would open talks with Warwick District Council about financing the request if it was approved - especially given the council is likely to receive £2 million less CIL money than expected.

The application said the six-lane track would cost £750,000 and would "benefit everyone, including local primary schools and the wider community".

The track would have two 100 metre straights, provision for field activities and a throwing area as well as a football pitch in the middle. 

Lack of Detail

Despite the wish to support the school, some councillors raised serious concerns about the application.

Cllr Richard Dickson said: "What I am struggling with is in part the quality of the application and the briefing we received, and that the amount we are being asked for is eight times greater than the other two applications we have considered. 

"I don't see a presentation in front of me or a case being made that is eight times better than those we saw earlier. 

"As was pointed out at the briefing, there are a number of gaps in the application."

Cllr Dickson also pointed out that the track would have six rather than eight lanes, unlike others in the area.

He also said it seemed a bit late for the application to come forward given the school is set to open in September 2023.

The new Kenilworth School will have extensive outdoor sports facilities (Image by James Smith)

"This school has been in planning for more than ten years and at no stage has the school ever said 'I think we might need some community infrastructure levy money from the town council, can we start the negotiations now'," he added. 

"First of all a capital fundraising, which is what this is, is to begin a courtship with your donors as early as possible, and to submit a decent application. 

"Having said all that - I want to support Kenilworth School as much as I can do."

Cllr John Dearing also questioned the lack of details around the costings provided.

"On the basis of that we have got to make a very urgent decision on spending half a million pounds of CIL money," he said. 

"How do we know this is a good deal, just because the contractor is on site? Do we know it's a good deal?"

Decision Deferred

Councillors agreed that they wanted to support the school and said they would do what they could to help the application along.

Cllr Rik Spencer said: "Clearly we don't have the money to do this application. 

"But I look at it and think, as it is presented to us, we have a £55 million school build taking place which is going to be the envy of a lot of other towns.

"I feel that this opportunity for Kenilworth Town Council to be involved in utilising CIL funding to put in some infrastructure which benefits the entire town is a once in a lifetime opportunity."

Trustees of the William Edwards Educational Charity presented a £250,000 cheque to the school earlier this month (image by James Smith)

Following a lengthy discussion, Cllr Andrew Milton said the council should delay making a decision on the request and ask for more information.

"I propose we should confirm our wish to support the school with funding but that we need to talk to them to get the application is a really good place because it is not quite there," he said.

"And we should also talk to the district council about how we could bridge the gap between what we have available and how much this is going to cost."