Up to £2 million is set to be spent on works along Leamington Road to ease congestion from the hundreds of new houses being built on the east side of Kenilworth.

Warwickshire County Council has ring fenced the funding for cycling and walking connections along the A452 and for potentially adding traffic lights to St John's Roundabout.

Funding for the project will be taken from local housing developers through S106 agreements - a legal agreement where builders must pay a local authority for infrastructure improvements.

The funding was signed off by deputy leader Cllr Peter Butlin in July for the project which has been labelled "essential".

"Improvements in this location are critical to the delivery of housing and employment growth, to facilitate access to the town centre and to ensure that queues do not propagate back to the A46 Strategic Road Network," a county council report said.

"The scheme would provide the connection between the proposed K2L cycle route and Kenilworth town centre as well as improving connectivity at Warwick Road and Birches Lane/Glasshouse Lane."

The report also said plans along Leamington Road need to be arranged alongside the K2L cycling scheme which is expected to pass through the junction.

Work along Leamington Road has been labelled 'essential' (image via WDC Local Plan)

"Given the advanced stage of K2L design and delivery, it [is] necessary to consider the two schemes together to avoid any abortive works," the report added.

Over £114,000 will be spent initially on a feasibility study which will give a predicted budget for the project. But WCC said it is expected to be less than £2 million.

Detailed designs for the project would then be drawn up.

The council report also said that £9.9 million has been raised from local housing developers for infrastructure improvements across Kenilworth, with a further £5.25 million expected to be raised in the coming months.

So far £6.7 million has been allocated to the A46/A452 roundabout scheme which has been forward funded by the council.

Some £3 million has also been budgeted for new junctions to the various new housing estates across the town.

And the report said work on the project also needs to move quickly, to accommodate the new spine road and junction that will be built as part of the new Kenilworth Gate estate, where 550 homes will ultimately be built.