Here are the biggest local planning stories from the past week in Leamington.

1930's style door deco

A charitable group that helps maintain the heritage of Leamington Spa railway station has succeeded in securing conditions around like-for-like replacements of 1930s doors.

Chiltern Railways dropped into hot water with Warwick District Council's planning department having replaced four oak doors on two platforms with new composite doors.

That breached rules related to the site's Grade-II listing with the company putting forward proposals to remedy the situation.

With the old oak doors disposed of, planning permission was granted for replicas to be installed instead of the current replacements which have been deemed as "unsympathetic" to the character of the setting by planning officers.

Read the full story here.

Bank revamp

A bank branch in Leamington is set to undergo a significant refurbishment, with plans outlining both internal and external upgrades.

The plans centre Santander on Parade, which under the proposed works, will see a new shopfront along with changes to the internal layout of the site.

Externally, the refurbishment will feature a new shopfront and updated store signage in Santander's new standard script font.

Additionally, new Santander Work Café graphics will be applied to the shopfront window. The digital signs will also be changed, replacing the two existing screens with a single modern digital media screen. This is in addition to a new ATM which will be installed, replacing the current one.

Read the story here.

Housing plans progress

The developer behind major plans for over 1,000 new houses between Kenilworth and Leamington Spa is looking to move forward with the development.

Taylor Wimpey UK Ltd has already announced a public consultation on the new estate which would be built on land around Sandy Lane in Milverton.

And as the major housebuilder prepares to submit a formal planning application, it has first asked Warwick District Council whether it needs to complete a full 'environmental impact assessment' on the huge piece of land.

Read the full story here.

Special measures

District councillors representing Leamington, Warwick and Kenilworth were warned of "significant" major planning applications on the horizon – and the added pressure to make the right calls.

Warwick District Council's development manager Gary Fisher told members of the planning committee – the councillors charged with the council's final say on big developments – that the authority had recently seen off the threat of being placed into special measures by the national government.

Performance is measured by looking at how many major applications are rejected by councils but later granted by the Planning Inspectorate against the number of big applications those councils get in.

Read more here.

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