Councillors will next week vote on controversial plans for six new industrial units on the edge of Kenilworth.

Outline permission for the employment site was approved in 2021 alongside 550 new houses off Leamington Road.

Since then, the site has sat empty and without a buyer to develop it.

But a 'reserved matters' application - which deals with the precise details of the designs - was put forward by land promoter Barwood Development Securities for the land at Thickthorn in 2024.

The scheme was updated in 2025 following objections from Kenilworth Town Council which said the plans did not follow the Land East of Kenilworth Development Brief or the Kenilworth Neighbourhood Plan - both of which were designed to control how the town is developed.

The town council has maintained its objection, and has been joined by 13 members of the public who oppose the plans.

Concerns around traffic, access and the size of the six units have all been raised.

Despite this, planners at Warwick District Council have said the application should be approved at next week's planning committee meeting.

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"The proposed units have been the subject of ongoing discussions with officers and technical consultees to deliver an acceptable form of development for the site that delivers the required employment opportunities for Kenilworth and the wider district," a council report said.

"Site specific matters have been adequately addressed, and technical requirements were secured through conditions attached to the outline planning permission that must be adhered to and discharged as necessary before development can commence or in some cases, occupied.

"Overall, the scheme is considered acceptable and Members are therefore recommended to approve this reserved matters scheme."

Following slow progress on the application over the past two years, highways officers at Warwickshire County Council gave the go-ahead to a new junction off Leamington Road at the entrance to the site.

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.

Click here to see the council report in full.