Council HQ move plan includes more than 100 new homes on current Leamington site

Plans to build about 100 new homes on the site of Warwick District Council's current headquarters near Leamington town centre will be submitted later this month.
CGI of the main aerial view of the new Warwick District Council HQ. NNL-170522-165640001CGI of the main aerial view of the new Warwick District Council HQ. NNL-170522-165640001
CGI of the main aerial view of the new Warwick District Council HQ. NNL-170522-165640001

This week it was announced that the plans have been amended after meetings with residents who live near the Milverton Hill site.

The proposal forms part of a linked application to redevelop the Covent Garden area of Leamington town centre.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Residents had previously raised concerns about the loss of trees on the Riverside House site and possible issues of parking and increased traffic in the road, as well as an increase in homes from the original plan. It is now believed that the Riverside proposal will include about 100 homes. The council also said this week that more of the existing trees will now be retained and new trees planted along the boundaries facing homes in Church Hill, Portland Place West and Wilhemina Close.

Warwick District Council, through its partnership with Public Sector Plc, is planning to create a new, smaller, headquarters, as well as offices, 44 new apartments and new larger 627-space, multi-storey car park, at the Covent Garden site. The Riverside House site will be sold for residential development, meaning the overall project should ‘cost the council nothing’.

The council has now agreed it will include a detailed landscape strategy in the plans to address these concerns.

Bill Hunt, deputy chief executive of the council, said: “We understand that residents are likely to be concerned about a development close to where they live and any impact that might have.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“We have delayed the application by several months so we have more chance to listen to those concerns as we want to do everything we can to ensure the new developments work for everyone in Leamington.”

Ian Findlater, of the Portland Place West Residents Group, said it is a “disgrace” that the plans do not include any affordable housing.

He added: “We are in favour of the site being developed but we want it done in the right way.”