The site and its context
The Site is located to the south of Kenilworth to the east of Rouncil Lane, adjacent to existing residential development and the St Johns Allotments. The Site is a large agricultural field spanning approximately 11 hectares.
The former Castle Sixth Form is adjacent to the Site’s northern boundary, which is planned to be developed for new housing.
The Site benefits from access to a wide range of facilities and amenities available in Kenilworth. The nearby X16, X17 and 11 bus routes on Warwick Road provides public transport links between Warwick, Leamington, Kenilworth and Coventry.
Click image to expand
The masterplan has been informed by an appraisal of the Site and its context, with a range of important considerations identified, as shown on the plan on this page. These matters have influenced the layout and form of development to ensure an appropriate and sensitive response to existing conditions.
There are a number of key considerations to development:
Overhead electricity lines to the south west, these will be either diverted or grounded.
There is a small area of low risk surface water flooding.
The boundaries are lined with trees and hedgerows, and there a few trees within the Site which will be retained and appropriate buffers will be provided. Only trees and hedgerows deemed low quality or necessary for access will be impacted.
There is currently some intervisibility into adjacent gardens along Sovereign Close, and new planting will reduce intervisibility to retain privacy for existing residents.
Planning Context
Richborough are preparing this planning application in light of a local and national housing crisis, which the current Government have set out to address with a target to deliver 1.5 million homes by 2029. Richborough are proposing up to 180 new homes, including up to 50% affordable housing, to help address this issue and Warwick District’s current shortfall in housing land supply.
In the Council’s Five Year Housing Land Supply Paper 2025, the Council confirmed a supply of 1.96 years, meaning they could not demonstrate a 5 year housing land supply – the Government’s measurement of whether local authorities are enabling enough housing land to meet the short term demand.
Although the Site is not identified for housing within the Warwick District Local Plan from 2017 and within the Green Belt, these circumstances mean planning applications for housing development can be acceptable subject to certain criteria. These criteria are considered to apply in this case and therefore an application is being prepared.