Warwick District Council wants to fence off 32 of West Rock car park's 99 public spaces for five years, for residents who lost their parking. Comments close 19 November.

A third of West Rock car park in Warwick town centre would be fenced off for residents’ private parking for five years, under plans lodged by Warwick District Council.

The council is applying to itself for planning permission. Its application, W/26/1511, was validated on 26 October. Comments can be made until 19 November, and the council aims to decide it by 21 December.

What the council wants to build

West Rock, off Commainge Close and Theatre Street, has 99 spaces. The application covers the southern section, which holds 32 of them. The council’s planning statement says the works would include:

  • a 2.4 metre galvanised steel anti-climb fence round the 32 spaces, in British Racing Green
  • one locked vehicle gate and one pedestrian gate at the north end
  • a small fibreglass kiosk for electrical equipment, 1.5 metres high
  • no lighting scheme yet; the statement says one could follow by condition

The enclosed area would be “securely locked and only accessible to residents and relevant management staff”, according to the design and access statement. The other 67 spaces would stay public. The permission sought is temporary, for five years.

Why the residents need spaces

The statement says the spaces are for “local residents who require private parking spaces in accordance with their leasehold contracts”. Their allocated spaces were in “another Council-owned car park” in the centre of Warwick that has closed. The application does not name it.

The council’s own papers on the Linen Street multi-storey fit that description. The car park shut to the public in July 2021 on safety grounds, the council said at the time. A structural report the council commissioned from JNP Group, first issued on 21 May 2026, says levels 1 and 2 were still in use for residents’ parking. It says an earlier survey by Pegasus Group had recommended that the resident parking “should cease” until safety concerns were investigated. It also says the council is “obliged to provide residential carparking” there “as part of an ongoing commitment”.

The JNP report found that the building is not at risk of imminent collapse. But it said concrete could spall from the underside of the floors above the residents’ levels, and set out repairs and protective netting to make levels 1 and 2 usable again for two to five years.

One objection has been lodged so far, from a resident near Linen Street. It argues that a five-year temporary permission suggests the council does not intend to resolve the problems at Linen Street for the foreseeable future, and objects to losing 32 more town centre spaces.

The council refused homes here in 2015

West Rock has been fought over before. In 2015 the council refused 13 homes on part of the car park, application W/15/0083. Its reason, quoted in the new planning statement, was that losing “a significant proportion of the popular and well used West Rock Public Car Park” would harm the town centre and could lead to unsafe parking.

The new statement argues the case is different, because the spaces would be reallocated rather than built on. It lists nearby car parks as alternatives:

  • Sainsbury’s, next door
  • Barrack Street multi-storey, about 110 metres east
  • Vittle Drive, about 130 metres west
  • New Street, about 300 metres east
  • Westgate, about 400 metres south-east

What it means for you

  • If you park at West Rock, the public part would shrink from 99 spaces to 67 for up to five years if this is approved. The tariff for the spaces that remain is on our parking page.
  • To comment, use the council’s planning register under reference W/26/1511 before 19 November. Comments are published with the commenter’s name and address.
  • Hampton Road, a short walk from the centre, gives the first two hours free and £2 for 24 hours, according to the council’s tariffs on our parking page.

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