A local resident has called on the council to bring some "unique architecture" to the town when it builds houses on the former Kenilworth School sites.

Warwick District Council is expected to submit planning applications to redevelop the sites on Leyes Lane and Rouncil Lane later this year - both of which are destined to become new housing estates.

An informal consultation on the schemes was run last year, as the school geared up to its move to Glasshouse Lane.

But speaking at this week's Kenilworth Community Forum, one resident called on the council not to just build lots of houses which all look the same.

"Will the houses be what I call 'anywhere houses'?" he asked.

"Are we going to have any unique architecture in any of those houses? 

"You go to the south of Leamington and Warwick, and it is horrifying that all the homes are the same. 

"Can we have something special in Kenilworth?"

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In response, the council's site delivery officer Becky Burridge said there are still a lot of decisions to be made before planning applications are submitted.

None of the buildings at Rouncil Lane are expected to be kept (image by James Smith)

And she said any development needed to be commercially viable.

"It is a decision for our cabinet as to what happens with the sites," she explained. 

"Whether the council develops itself, whether they are sold to a mainstream developer; there are decisions that need to be made about how the sites are going to be built out, and that will determine what is built. 

"The intention has always been, they want exemplar sites that are net zero carbon. 

"But obviously the development has to be viable - it has to be a balancing act."

Ms Burridge said the applications are expected "sooner rather than later".

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She also hinted a community use building could be included at the Leyes Lane site - something locals had put forward during the consultation - but said none of the existing buildings are Rouncil Lane are likely to be retained.

Gates

One resident has also written to Kenilworth Nub News expressing their desire for the council to repurpose the former Rouncil Lane school gates somewhere else in the town.

"A lot of interest has been shown in the entrance gates to the school which will shortly be demolished to make way for a housing development," wrote former pupil Henry Philip Street. 

"The gates are a 'wavelength' pattern and influenced by the 1951 Festival of Britain. 

"As a child in the 1950s, I can remember seeing similar design examples in Coventry City Centre when it was rebuilt after World War Two.

Henry Philip Street says the Rouncil Lane school gates should be moved somewhere else in Kenilworth (image by James Smith)

"It would be nice if they could be saved from the scrap merchants and re-sited somewhere in the town or at the new school in Glasshouse Lane.

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"My thoughts are they are part of the town's history – many thousands of children have passed through them on their way to school over the years. 

"I think it will be a pity if they are lost. With a little imagination, I think they would perhaps make a nice sculptural addition to an outside wall of the new school that has been built to replace both schools.  

 "It has been suggested that the gates could have been made by a local company – they appear to be unique."

Kenilworth Nub News has approached WDC for comment on the gates.