Warwick Council This Week: Thickthorn Units and Padel Courts

Warwick District Council’s planning committee sits on two consecutive evenings this week, Tuesday 13 and Wednesday 14 October, both at 6pm at Leamington Town Hall and both streamed on the council’s YouTube channel. A licensing panel follows on Thursday morning.

Tuesday’s agenda is the one we previewed on Thursday: the Lidl on Heathcote Lane, up to 160 homes on Oakley Wood Road at Bishops Tachbrook, a nursery on Chesham Street and the vacuum glazing at 43 Brunswick Street. This piece covers Wednesday, whose agenda was published on 6 October.

Wednesday 14 October, 6pm: Planning Committee

Six industrial units at Thickthorn, Kenilworth: officers say approve. Application W/24/1536 is the detailed design for the employment land in the East of Kenilworth development, on the corner of Leamington Road and the A46 beside Thickthorn Island. It proposes six general industrial units totalling 22,000 square metres, with 1,100 square metres of offices. Five of the six would be 14.5 metres to the parapet and up to 15.5 metres to the ridge; the smallest, Unit 6, is 1,250 square metres and 11.6 metres high.

The principle was settled in 2021, when the council granted the hybrid permission for 98 homes, outline consent for up to 452 more, a school, a local centre and this employment land. Only the layout, appearance, scale and landscaping are now being decided.

Kenilworth Town Council objects. Its grounds include that the scheme does not follow the development brief or the neighbourhood plan, that Unit 3 blocks a direct access to the A46 junction, that there is no landscape buffer, and that the entrance to Kenilworth “should be parkland character”. Thirteen residents object, citing traffic, parking overspill, buildings that “will tower over other properties”, noise, lighting, and the fear that the houses on Thickthorn Orchards “will be blighted”. One asks for a supermarket instead.

Officers recommend approval. Environmental health has asked for a condition limiting operation to 11pm, because that is how the noise assessment was modelled, and the report says any unit wanting 24-hour working would need a fresh application. Loading bays are placed on the elevations facing away from homes. The nearest new unit is about 74 metres from the boundary of the closest house on Thickthorn Orchards.

Padel courts at Squab Hall Farm: officers say refuse. Application W/26/0492 would turn a storage building at Squab Hall Farm, off Harbury Lane between Leamington and Bishops Tachbrook, into three indoor padel courts with changing rooms and a cafe. Bishops Tachbrook Parish Council supports it, which is why it goes to committee, and a representative of Oakley School wrote in support for its pupils.

The officer’s case for refusal has two parts. First, the building is protected employment land, and the council’s policy expects two years of marketing before a change of use; the unit has been empty since December 2024 and was marketed for six months, from September 2025 to March 2026, at £142,000 a year, drawing no industrial interest but five enquiries from padel operators. Second, Harbury Lane is a 50mph road with no footway or street lighting, the nearest homes are about 800 metres away and there is no bus, so the report says the site “would be reliant upon private cars”. The applicant offered to open an unlit 360-metre farm track from Oakley Wood Road for walkers and cyclists; officers were not persuaded.

The report notes that padel courts were approved at Kenilworth Tennis and Squash Club and at The Warwickshire golf club, but says those were existing sports sites, which this is not.

The rest of Wednesday’s list:

• Norton Croft, Wolverton Road, Norton Lindsey: demolish a bungalow and outbuildings, build three houses and extend Cotswold House. The parish council objects to a garage forward of the building line. Officers recommend approval.
• 3 Newnham Road, Lillington: a two-storey and single-storey side extension, scaled down since the first submission. Seventeen objections from twelve people, on the street scene, light, outlook and privacy. The town council has no objection. Officers recommend approval.
• The Moorings, Old Warwick Road, Lapworth: two-storey front and side extensions in the Green Belt, refused once already in 2025 under W/25/1173. Eleven supporters and the ward councillor back it. Officers recommend refusal again.
• 9 Telford Avenue, Lillington: a garage and office at the end of the garden fronting Avondale Road, plus a converted garage and new porch. Thirteen objections; a similar garage next door at number 11 was allowed on appeal in 2006. Officers recommend approval.

Item 10 is the appeals report, which was still “to follow” when the agenda went out.

Tuesday 13 October, 6pm: Planning Committee

Full detail is in our preview. In short: officers recommend approving the Lidl on Heathcote Lane and up to 160 homes on Oakley Wood Road, Bishops Tachbrook, approving a nursery on Chesham Street, and refusing vacuum glazing at 43 Brunswick Street for a second time.

Thursday 15 October, 10am: Licensing and Regulatory Panels

A panel of the Licensing and Regulatory Committee meets at 10am at the Town Hall. Panels hear individual licence applications and reviews. No papers were on the council’s committee system when we checked on 10 October, which usually means the hearing concerns a single premises or driver and the papers are restricted.

How to speak, and what comes next

Anyone can address the planning committee on any application on the agenda, in person. You have to register through the council’s online form before 10am on the working day before the meeting: that is Monday 12 October for Tuesday’s meeting and Tuesday 13 October for Wednesday’s. The running order can change to suit registered speakers, and items are occasionally withdrawn after the agenda is published.

The week after brings the council’s other committees: Overview and Scrutiny on Tuesday 20 October, the Budget Review Group on Wednesday 21 October and Cabinet on Thursday 22 October, all at 6pm at the Town Hall. Their agendas should appear on the committee calendar about a week beforehand.

Every live application, and how to comment on one before it reaches committee, is explained on our planning applications page.