A town councillor has criticised the process by which the decision to permanently shut a Kenilworth road has been made.

Earlier this month Warwickshire County Council extended the closure of Station Road "indefinitely", saying the closure would make the town centre safer.

The scheme had the backing of Kenilworth Town Council, while the county's consultation early last year led to letters both in favour and against the scheme.

Meanwhile a survey of Nub News readers - which had more responses than the council's consultation - also found locals were split evenly on whether Station Road should remain shut.

But at last week's Kenilworth Town Council meeting, Cllr Andrew Milton voiced concerns about the way locals had been engaged.

"You have really got to take people with you and get the consultation process right," he said.

"When I think about this one, I think the consultation process has been really unclear. 

"There was a consultation which finished in May last year, and I think many people were thinking there would be another consultation at some point before a final decision was made. 

"That's not happened from what I can see. 

"And I imagine residents will be frustrated by that, so I don't think the process has been clear." 

Painted benches have already been put in place at the end of Station Road (image by James Smith)

The Liberal Democrat councillor also said the "ownership" of the project has been "quite muddy".

He added: "When we have talked about this here as a town council, it's been quite clear that it's the county council making the decision. 

"If you were to read the county council decisions, you would think they are only doing it because the town council are asking them to do it. 

"There's a real muddying of the ownership there."

However, Cllr Milton did say there was good news that surveys would be carried to see the impact of extra traffic being forced onto local roads by the closure.

"The report before the decision made some really really broad statements saying 'don't worry everything is ok' but it didn't actually back that up with any data whatsoever," he said. 

"I think that is really important, to have the data to make the decision, and that residents have the confidence that the data is there and the process has been done properly. 

"There are things we need to learn from this."

Warwickshire County Council said the closure would stop people turning right from onto Warwick Road (image by James Smith)

With the long-term closure of the road all-but confirmed, councillors also discussed the future of the end of Station Road.

KTC has already begun creating a pocket park there, with help from Kenilworth Arts Festival.

But now the council will ask its county colleagues for estimates on how much potential works could cost.

Members said getting a range of options was important, as was making sure the pedestrianised area is designed with accessibility in mind.