Kenilworth Town Councillors have reiterated concerns over the "unacceptable impact" on local residents of the new Castle Farm sports centre.

Town councillors met again this week to discuss the planning application following new documents submitted by the applicant, Warwick District Council.

KTC's planning committee maintained its position from March that the proposed parking provision would still lead to an unacceptable impact on local roads and local residents.

Cllr Andrew Milton said: "From a traffic planning perspective the junction may be able to cope but is it actually acceptable for our residents to be asked to put up with or not? Personally I don't think it is.

"I think the other concern is that it doesn't really seem to reflect the general experience of residents who live in that road or the surrounding roads, they have a lot of concerns.

"I think that the impact of the volume of traffic down these narrow residential roads presents an unacceptable impact on the amenity of residents."

Cllr Rob Barry agreed saying: "I think we should ask the applicants to actually work constructively with local residents to reach an acceptable solution for this."

Travel Plan

Alongside comments on parking, councillors maintained their position on the travel plan for the new development.

Cllr John Dearing said: "It is so frustrating that they're [WDC] not taking into account the way in which, particularly young people, will get to this site through safe walking and cycling.

"It is really quite shameful that its not actually a priority in their planning protocols."

Comments on the application that there needs to be priority for cycling and pedestrians on site were kept by the council.

Cllr Barry added: "What we are trying to do is alleviate the traffic problems by making it safe to cycle on site and in doing so mitigate the air pollution and obviously greenhouse gas emissions from motorised vehicles."

Energy usage

As was the case when the council discussed the plans in March, particular concerns were raised that WDC does not intend to build the new facility to be carbon net zero. This is despite the council's commitment to reach carbon net zero by 2030.

Cllr Dearing said: "The frustration continues.

"We no the district is trying to get as close to zero carbon emission by 2030 as possible and the current vision of the building will reduce carbon emissions by 8 per cent, so that is quite a long way from getting to 100 per cent and therefore I don't think this building is going to make much contribution to the target.

"I think overall this is short termism, I think in the long run this is going to be a really poor return for the tax payer. And I don't mean that long either – by 2030 this council will be looking already for funds for retrofitting."

Cllr Barry added: "They have included gas boilers, really? They said it is because it's the most cost effective, but we have declared climate emergencies across the board so I don't think that cost effective is number one priority."

Greenbelt

New discussions over the development on greenbelt land resulted in a further comment being added by the town council, asking WDC to consider whether the plans were appropriate or not.

The concerns were raised by Cllr Milton who said: Raised by Cllr Milton: "The applicant had plenty of opportunity to find a suitable place in the town for this development rather than creating an expansion of it on this particular site.

"The applicant had the chance to find a more suitable site for this development that wasn't at the end of a very narrow road."

BMX track and Skate park

Comments have also been submitted requesting that WDC take into account the current state of the BMX track and skate park, and ask for maintenance to be considered as part of the application.

In raising the concerns Cllr Barry said: "Given that we should be providing as much outdoor facilities for future generations, I think that the BMX track should be maintained and enhanced."