Kenilworth Town Council must make a long-term plan for what to do at the end of Station Road if it is closed permanently.

That was the message to members at last week's town council council meeting as KTC discussed improvements to the town centre.

Station Road's closure has been extended at the request of the town council, and Warwickshire County Council will decide whether or not to make this permanent.

Currently Kenilworth Arts Festival is decorating a number of benches to build a pocket park at the end of the street.

The benches have been provided by the town council through the government's Welcome Back Fund.

The council has bought planters to replace the metal road closed signs (Image via Clive Peacock)

However, Cllr Michael Coker said this would not be a long-term solution.

"Obviously it is out of our hands but if it stays closed what do we do about it? We need to be able to say 'this is the plan'," he said at last week's full council meeting.

"Obviously the county council will make a decision on this, but having sad that if they do make it permanent in the next six or seven months then it would be good to have a plan in place to improve what we have already got there.

"It's all clearly of a temporary nature currently, but obviously if it is closed then we need to come forward with something long term."

The road was originally closed at the start of the pandemic to ease social distancing in the town centre.

The extension of the closure has proved unpopular with many residents, some of whom said it should never have been closed in the first place.

One resident said: "We are so blessed with green space. Yes - fun to have a nicely designed and properly thought out space but that road is useful and heading everyone through the car park isn't the answer.

"Spend some money on other spots but not a perfectly good road."