A two-year wait to find out whether six major industrial units will be built next to a Kenilworth housing estate is set to drag on, after councillors asked for more information.

Warwick District Council's planning committee was this week due to make a decision on the employment land at Thickthorn.

Planning officers had said a detailed planning application for six warehouses off Leamington Road should be approved, but councillors said questions remained about the impact the buildings would have on the local area.

Kenilworth Town Council has twice objected to the designs, firstly back in 2024 when the plans first surfaced, and then again last year when they were tweaked.

Cllr Kate Dickson spoke at this week's committee meeting to voice the town council's concerns.

"My comments this evening will concentrate on the effect on the amenity of the buildings on the existing neighbours of both Kenilworth gate and Leamington Road, the impact of the planned appearance of the building on the entrance of Kenilworth, and the conflicting detail with the land east of Kenilworth development brief," she said.

Cllr Dickson said the 14m-high buildings will "line the entrance" of the town but said they were "not aesthetically pleasing".

This despite a major planning document on the land east of Kenilworth saying any building there must "enhance the entrance to the town".

Cllr Dickson also raised concerns about access around Leamington Road.

"We have learned from buildings closest to the site that the infrastructure must be put in place to make sure residents can move safely on and off this site," she said.

"We support comments from officers that the phasing of the development is critical and ask should this application be passed, no development should start until the junction off Leamington Road, including provision of the pedestrian and cycling pathways be finished."

Fellow Kenilworth councillors shared her concerns and said it was not clear from the application how much of an impact the six industrial units would have visually on the local area.

Cllr James Kennedy commented: "Without a CGI mock up it is difficult to know exactly what it will look like, but it doesn't look good to me."

Meanwhile, Cllr Richard Dickson added: "We still could not see through CGI images exactly what the resident from Thomas Bate Road and Beard Close will see, what Thickthorn Orchards will see and from the as yet agreed apartment on unit six will see.

"I think it would be really helpful to see those images so we can actually see what we are being asked to agree here."

Ultimately, the committee voted in favour of deferring the decision.

Council officers must now come back with more information about what hours the units would be used for, massing and what landscaping would be created.

Outline permission for the employment site was approved in 2021 alongside 550 new houses off Leamington Road. This latest application deals with its design.

The application submitted to WDC would see six 'employment units' totalling an area of 22,000 square metres built on site.

Plans also include some 496 parking spaces, with traffic coming onto the site from the already busy Leamington Road.