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

Hotel to Houses

Plans to demolish a Kenilworth hotel and replace it with four houses and five apartments are an improvement on previous applications for the same site, according to town councillors.

The application is the latest in a series of schemes put forward to redevelop the Peacock Hotel, after separate proposals to turn it into student accommodation and apartments were each withdrawn last year.

Planning permission was granted in 2019 by Warwick District Council to turn the 32-bed venue into student accommodation, but the development was delayed due to the pandemic.

Read the full story here.

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Rugby Club Relocation

Plans to relocate Kenilworth Rugby Club and create a new "new centre of rugby and community excellence" have taken a major step forward.

Bloor Homes is preparing to submit a planning application to Warwick District Council to redevelop the club's current Glasshouse Lane home into 220 homes.

Progress follows confirmation that the necessary rights over Network Rail land will revert to the rugby club following the acquisition of the new site off Warwick Road.

Read the full story here.

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Solar Farm Scheme

An Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) will not be needed before plans to build a 32 hectare solar farm in Kenilworth can progress.

Warwick District Council has told developer Eco Energy World LPA that it will not have to complete an EIA because the 20MW site of Rouncil Lane is unlikely to have a major impact on the local area.

Eco Energy World will now have to submit a full planning application to the council, but early plans show the green belt land could be covered in panels up to four metres high.

Read the full story here.

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Extra Homes Axed

Plans to include four extra houses at a major new estate being built in Kenilworth have been withdrawn two years after they were first put forward.

Bovis Homes had applied to Warwick District Council to substitute seven three-bed houses for three five-beds at its Pavilions development near Kenilworth Cricket Club.

The Warwick Road estate was first given outline planning permission in September 2018 for 125 homes.

Read the full story here.

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Viaduct Plans Submitted

HS2 says it has "incorporated feedback" from residents in its plans to build a 425-metre viaduct in Balsall Common.

The high speed rail developer has recently submitted a proposal to Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council, and says the designs were changed to reflect local opinion on environmental sustainability, the landscape, appearance and public access.

Contractor Balfour Beatty VINCI has engaged with residents after releasing images of the proposed structure in July last year.

Read the full story here.

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