The former Kenilworth School & Sixth Form building on Rouncil Lane is to be demolished in a bid to push along housing plans – but a number of uncertainties remain.

Warwick District Council's cabinet – the panel of Green Party and Labour councillors in charge of major service areas – this week approved funding the demolition works that will be handled by prospective land buyers Homes England.

The thinking is that a cleared site will be more appetising for developers and increase the sale value of the land while also reducing security burdens after a series of instances of anti-social behaviour and trespass.

However, the council's report also makes clear that the deal is not sealed in relation to Homes England taking ownership from the council.

Due diligence work continues with the report stating Homes England hopes to submit a planning application for housing by the end of March 2027.

Handing over responsibility for demolition reduces certain liabilities for the council but the district cannot guarantee achieving the best value for money for the work as it will not appoint the contractor, and costs could escalate if things like unidentified asbestos are found at a later date.

Despite the potential headaches, councillors in charge and those in opposition agreed with council professionals that the benefits – in particular the prospect of accelerating the housing plans – outweighed the likely risks of downing the dilapidated building.

The matter was discussed by the scrutiny panel on Tuesday (September 8) with chair Cllr Andrew Milton recommending that the cabinet receives "regular reporting on the cost of ownership of the site", including updated "what-if scenarios" as and when key decisions get made – they were incorporated into Wednesday's cabinet's decision (September 9).

The rest of the discussion centred around Liberal Democrat group leader Councillor Alan Boad's (Leamington Lillington) idea that smaller local builders could be encouraged to bring forward the homes.

"This is land that we own," he said.

"A number of local authorities have encouraged small businesses and builders to build on smaller plots.

"You get away from national builders and you get houses that look a bit different. Have we thought about that? Should we think about it? Is it worth pursuing as we own the land? There may be opportunities there."

The idea was cautiously welcomed in principle.

Leader Cllr Ian Davison said: "We are certainly keen to get on with it. This has been hanging around for a long time so there is the efficiency element.

"You know there is an ambition to have low-energy, Passivhaus buildings there. There has been conversation about having them separately, we can look at that and see what the update is on that possibility."

Portfolio holder for place Cllr Chris King added: "This has been discussed and it is still an open discussion but we are all aware that the market is not particularly encouraging at the moment.

"Costs and interest rates are not helping any of the critical factors in these decisions but we will continue to look at that.

"It is a great idea and part of the local circular economy that we really do need to promote but we are not masters of our own decision making in this kind of situation."