Here are the biggest local planning stories from the past week.

Major Housing Push

A land promoter is pressing ahead with plans for 1,200 new homes between Leamington Spa and Kenilworth.

Richborough Estates had already signalled its intentions for the land at Sandy Lane, Blackdown having suggested it be included in the new South Warwickshire Local Plan (SWLP).

The major planning document will decide where some 35,000 houses are built across Warwick and Stratford districts over the next 25 years.

Read more here

Swimming Pool's Price?

Councillors are being urged to ensure that users of Kenilworth's long-awaited new leisure centre don't have to pay extra for the privilege. 

A report considered by Warwick District Council's cabinet last week stated that the new facility at Abbey Fields "is expected to open in April 2026", although it was said that was now the completion date as opposed to when the public could use it.

That means an end is in sight to a protracted project that saw costs rocket to £22 million from an original £8.5 million estimate, primarily due to the discovery of medieval remains which required the building to be put on a raised concrete slab to protect what lay underneath.

Read the full story here.

Industrial Plans Return

Updated plans for six new industrial units in Kenilworth have been submitted nearly a year after the scheme was first revealed.

Kenilworth Town Council had objected to the original planning application from Barwood Development Securities Ltd's for the land at Thickthorn.

Councillors said the scheme - which is on land already approved for employment use - did not follow the Land East of Kenilworth Development Brief or the Kenilworth Neighbourhood Plan, both of which were designed to control how the town is developed.

Read more here.

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