Kenilworth Conservation Area - An Extra Two Weeks To Get Your Comments In
November 19, 2004 3:30 PM
Not everyone wants to live in a Conservation Area!
Following a request by Liberal Democrats, Warwick District Council have agreed to extend by a further two weeks the public consultation over proposed extensions to the Kenilworth Conservation Area. The new deadline is FRIDAY 3RD DECEMBER.
This follows strong concerns about the proposals raised by residents in Lower Ladyes Hills in particular.
Liberal Democrats have been concerned from the beginning that residents might not understand the full implications of living in a conservation area, until it was too late. We have therefore leafleted all affected households to help explain the pros and cons in simple terms.
Kenilworth Liberal Democrats have also made a separate submission to the District Council on the subject. This supports the general principle of Conservation Areas, but argues against a piecemeal approach - i.e. trying to pick out parts of streets or individual buildings.
In particular, we have registered strong opposition to two specific parts of the proposals: namely Wilton House in Southbank Road; and the properties adjoining the Station Road/Priory Road.Waverley Road junction.
We commented as follows:
"The inclusion of The Town Council Building (Wilton House, Southbank Road) in the proposed new Conservation Area 1 cannot be justified. The properties on each side of it are (rightly) not proposed for inclusion, while Wilton House itself, although late 19th century, is neither particularly appealing nor interesting. The building is in a poor state of repair, and its designation within a Conservation Area could place a major financial burden on the Council, forcing it to seek to maintain premises that are neither fit-for-purpose nor economic. The Wilton house site represents a major asset, the future of which is under active review as part of the Kenilworth town centre redevelopment proposals. It would be entirely wrong to pre-empt this review at this stage by an inappropriate designation of the site.
Similarly, the proposed inclusion in Area 1 of properties on all four sides of the Station Road/Priory Road/Waverley Road cannot be justified. Neither the much-altered ex-cinema building nor the fish & chip shop building have any particular merit to warrant inclusion. The few 19th century properties on the approach to the old station site have some interest, but are surrounded by a builder's yard on one side and modern estate on the other. The Station Road/Priory Road/Waverley Road junction is already an extremely busy one, with the likelihood of further increases in traffic volumes if/when the town centre re-development goes ahead, and/or if the building of new station for Kenilworth takes place on the builder's yard site. In these circumstances a revised junction, perhaps a roundabout, might become essential. No decisions to include the junction within a Conservation Area should be taken which might pre-empt the outcome of imminent traffic management studies for the town centre as a whole."
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