"It is time their attention came to Kenilworth" is the message from councillors who are looking to include improvements for the town centre in the new South Warwickshire Local Plan (SWLP).

Providing an outline for development across the south of the county, the SWLP is currently being drawn up by Warwick and Stratford-upon-Avon District Councils.

As work on the major planning document progresses, Kenilworth Town Council has run its own 'vision workshop' to gather local opinion on how the town centre can be improved.

Results of this have been fed back to the district councils who said there is still time to incorporate a vision for Kenilworth in the SWLP.

It had been suggested the town council to start bringing together a 'town board' and 'regeneration and investment framework' to help provide a comprehensive view for Kenilworth's future.

However, town councillors agreed this was too big a task for the council to tackle alone.

Providing an update at last week's meeting, Cllr James Kennedy said: "I don't think we have the capacity or the funding to put together a 'town board' let alone a 'regeneration investment framework'. 

"I think we need to go back to the district council and talk to them about how those sorts of things can be developed, bearing in mind they have done a lot of work for the centre of Leamington. 

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"It is time their attention also came to Kenilworth."

In a response to the town council, district officers wrote: "The South Warwickshire Local Plan is being developed in two parts; the first part will contain strategic policies e.g. strategic growth allocations and new settlements, with more specific policies including those dealing with town centres not being covered until part two.

"At this stage, given the extent of work involved in local plan making, we are only working on part one of the plan. 

"Therefore, there is still plenty of time for us to engage with you over your plans and aspirations for the town centre as your work develops and we can work together to establish what can or can't be carried forward in the plan."