The town council has objected to plans to build a four-storey block of flats in the town centre.

The scheme, which could see Talisman Square car park turned into 44 flats and two new shops, was submitted to Warwick District Council in July by Cobalt Estates.

A previous scheme to build student accommodation and retail units had already been granted by WDC in 2016 but the build did not go ahead "due to the changing commercial landscape".

And despite the new plans now being for residential flats and including three fewer shops, Kenilworth Town Council's planning committee objected to the proposal at last week's planning meeting.

Councillors raised concerns about massing due to the extra floor and said the build "does not harmonise with the surrounding buildings".

The council comment added: "There are strong concerns over access to parking for prospective residents.

"Access to the parking site is a tight narrow turn and egress to the parking site is onto Warwick Road, with a bus stop immediately to your left and chevrons to a pedestrian crossing immediately to your right.

"It is further considered there are not sufficient parking spaces for prospective residents, taking into consideration an expectation many of the dwellings will be shared residences and other residences in Talisman square currently use the allocated parking site."

More than 70 objections have been made to the plans already.

When they were submitted, Hugo Hawkings, chief executive of Discovery Properties, said it showed "commitment to continued investment in Talisman Shopping Centre".

He added: "We are really pleased to submit these plans for what we believe to be the final piece of development of the centre. We believe bringing residential dwellings into the heart of the scheme will add life to the centre particularly outside the usual trading hours.

"It has been a long time coming, but due to things moving very quickly in commercial property and the challenges brought about by the pandemic, we are pleased the new plans have now gone in.

"If our application is successful, we would look to start construction within a year of gaining consent and the scheme will take about 18 months to construct.

"We are also looking forward to helping exciting new businesses move into the two new retail class E units created by this development."

The application can be seen in full here.