Warwick Lidl Approved, With 160 Bishops Tachbrook Homes

Lidl’s store on Heathcote Lane, Warwick, has been approved, subject to a legal agreement. So have up to 160 homes on farmland off Oakley Wood Road, Bishops Tachbrook. Warwick District Council’s planning committee decided both on Tuesday night, 13 October.

The council published its summary of decisions the same evening. It says on its face that it is not the formal minutes, which will follow.

Councillors also went against their officers on one item. They granted listed building consent for vacuum double glazing at 43 Brunswick Street, Leamington, which officers had recommended refusing.

Lidl on Heathcote Lane

The store, application W/25/0728, replaces Europa House at the roundabout where the A452 meets Heathcote Lane. The decision notice will not be issued until a Section 106 legal agreement is signed. That is the deal that secures the developer’s payments, including £48,300 towards two new bus stops on Heathcote Lane, as set out in the officer report.

The application had been pulled from the September meeting before a vote. The sticking point was the “sequential test”, which asks whether a store could go in or nearer a town centre first. Objectors, Tesco among them, said Leamington’s Covent Garden car park should have counted.

The October report answered that. It said the council, as owner of the Covent Garden site, did not expect it to be available for about three years. Officers judged that too long.

One more objection arrived after the agenda went out. The council’s update report says it pointed to a 2022 appeal in Altrincham. There, an inspector treated a town-centre site available in three to four years as a reasonable option for Lidl. Officers replied that what counts as reasonable depends on each scheme, and kept their recommendation.

Councillor Dickson asked written questions about parking and traffic before the meeting. The store has 122 spaces, 34 fewer than the council’s parking standard asks for, and officers accepted that. Their answers in the update report:

• the cycle parking meets the council’s requirement
• Warwickshire County Council’s highways team raised no objection, after junction and traffic modelling
• a county highways officer had been asked to attend the meeting

The conditions in the officer report that will apply include opening and deliveries only between 7am and 11pm, and a toucan crossing on Heathcote Lane built before the store opens.

160 homes off Oakley Wood Road

Sharba Homes Ltd’s application, W/25/1339, is for outline permission for up to 160 homes in Bishops Tachbrook, about three miles south of Leamington. Only the access onto Oakley Wood Road, the B4087, is fixed. The layout and the house types will come back in a later application.

The officer report said 40% of the homes would be affordable. It leaned heavily on the council’s housing land supply of 1.96 years, against the five years national policy expects. A 2016 bid for 150 homes on the same land was refused.

Councillors approved it with three notes to Warwickshire County Council and the developer. The summary of decisions asks:

• that the Section 106 education money goes on improvements at Oakley School, to meet demand from the new homes
• that the walking and cycle routes under condition 11 consider improvements to the north west of the site, along Oakley Wood Road
• that the county’s highways team reviews the speed limit on Oakley Wood Road

The notes are requests, not conditions. The update report also recorded two more objections, on services, traffic, water supply and rural character.

On buses, the update report says the nearest stops are about 65 and 100 metres from the site entrance. The furthest homes would be roughly 350 to 400 metres away, inside the 400 metres Active Travel England guidance sets. No filter lane is planned on Oakley Wood Road.

Brunswick Street: officers overruled

The owners of the Grade II listed house at 43 Brunswick Street want timber windows with vacuum double glazing on the front. Councillors deferred the case in September and asked for the appeal decisions officers relied on.

Officers still recommended refusal. On Tuesday the committee granted consent instead. The summary says conditions will be agreed by the Head of Place, Arts and Economy with the committee chair.

Before the vote the applicants sent photographs and drawings. According to the update report, the two single-glazed windows being kept date from the 2000s. The owners also argued their double glazing looks less reflective than the old single glazing.

The summary of decisions does not give councillors’ reasons. They will be in the minutes.

The nursery on Chesham Street

The Bright Stars nursery at 1-3 Chesham Street, Leamington, can build its entrance pavilion and infill extension. The only change was to condition 2, to list an amended drawing received on the day.

What it means for you

• Near Heathcote Lane: nothing starts until the Section 106 agreement is signed and the decision notice issued. Watch the application page for it.
• In Bishops Tachbrook: you will get another say. The layout, the house types and the mix of homes need a reserved matters application, which is consulted on like any other.
• Listed building owners in Leamington: one consent does not set a rule. Officers have pointed to dismissed appeals at 41 Portland Street and Oaks Farm, Kenilworth, and each case is judged on the building.
• Follow the rest of the district’s applications on our planning news page.

The committee met again on Wednesday 14 October. We will report those decisions when the council publishes them.