COVENTRY MESSAGE BOARD

Plans for new social housing in south Leamington have encountered opposition from neighbours.



Warwick District Council hopes to build six flats and five houses on the site of Kingsway Community Centre in Edinburgh Crescent as part of a programme set up with housing association Waterloo Housing to build new homes on council-owned sites.

But people living nearby have complained the homes are too densely packed and there is no space for parking.

Many have warned of the effect on traffic, particularly during the school run and others say the scheme reduces open space and takes away a much-needed community centre.

Kingsway resident G Mancini called the scheme an “ill-concieved idea at the expense of local residents” but Cllr Norman Vincett, who is responsible for housing at the district council, said the scheme would meet a shortage of social housing.

He said: “There are people in dire need who are absolutely desperate. The application will go through the normal planning process and it will be up to the planning committee to decide.”

Centre to make way for new homes

CAMPAIGNERS in Leamington’s Old Town who have been fighting to save their community centre from being transformed into housing have lost their battle.

On Wednesday night, Warwick District Council’s executive committee gave their approval for the Kingsway Community Centre to be converted into ten low-cost homes and a ‘community hub’.

Speaking on behalf of the Kingsway Community Centre Re-instatement committee, Hughie McGuigan asked for the matter to be deferred to give the group more time to put across their case for keeping the building, which has been empty for almost three years, as a community centre.

But officials at the council had argued that social events, drop-ins, council surgeries and other similar sessions could take place at a community hub, such as the one on the Packmores Estate in Warwick, while there were other community centres nearby for larger events.

A planning application for the development is expected to be put forward next month.