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

Council Houses Become Homes

The first tenants at the new council houses on a 620-house estate being built in Kenilworth have now collected their keys.

The new residents have been settling into the properties at Stoneleigh View, where 248 homes will be made available as council houses or sold at social rent levels or as shared ownership.

Another 62 will be sold by Warwick District Council's (WDC) housing company Milverton Homes, with the final 310 sold by Linden Homes and Bovis Homes.

Read more here

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Rugby Club's Pop-up Plans

Spectators will be able to buy beers pitchside at Kenilworth Rugby Football Club if plans are signed off by the district council.

The Glasshouse Lane outfit has applied for permission to vary its alcohol licence, asking for the whole site to be included under the permissions, not just the clubhouse.

If approved, the new licence would allow KRFC to sell alcohol through pop-up bars, which it says would be set up either within the beer garden or on the north side of the main pitch.

Read the full story here.

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Talisman Square Thrown Out

The developer behind controversial plans to build a five-storey block of flats on Talisman Square has described councillors' decision to refuse permission as "disappointing".

Landowner Cobalt Estates put forward the application to build 43 flats and two shops last year, as the "third and final" step in the area's redevelopment.

A previous scheme to build student accommodation and retail units had already been granted permission but the build did not go ahead "due to the changing commercial landscape".

Planners at Warwick District Council (WDC) had recommended that the fresh application be approved, but councillors at this week's planning meeting refused to grant permission.

Read more here.

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Police HQ - again

The latest push to build 83 homes next to Warwickshire Police's headquarters in Leek Wootton was resisted by councillors this week as Warwick District Council prepares for a legal battle over the plans.

The proposed development at Woodcote Lane, Leek Wootton, is set to go to a planning inquiry, the most formal procedure by which planning appeals are decided, despite an attempt by applicants Cala Homes to gain permission through a second application that was described as "identical" in the council's report.

It was refused unanimously by the council's planning committee on Wednesday (October 11) after the discussion was taken behind closed doors for more than half an hour.

Read the full story here.

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