Former Sunday school building in Baginton could be replaced by four-bedroom house

The building in the centre of Baginton lay empty for ten years before being demolished and now Southam-based DFJ Hewer Builders Ltd wants to develop the site.

A heritage statement to accompany the planning application explains that the building had been the village school until 1976 and it lay within the Baginton Conservation Area.

The report adds that the building had been owned by the Lucy Price Sunday School Trust for many years - a charity founded by Lucy Price (nee Bromley) of Baginton Hall who, in the early 19th Century, gave property in the village for it to be used as a school for poor children of the parish.

Nine years after the school closed it became a youth centre and Sunday school but the latter has since operated from from the chancel of the church.

The report explains: “Latterly the cost of maintaining the existing building to comply with modern requirements became unviable. The building has fallen into a state of disrepair, being uninhabitable and vacated in 2010.”

The heritage statement adds that the new house together with the associated landscaping and public peace garden would benefit the village.

It explains: “The development will relate well to its context and more particularly to the adjoining existing properties. It will make a positive contribution to the character and amenity of the conservation area, preserving and enhancing the quality of the built environment.

“Granting of a planning application will represent an advantage to the neighbours and the wider community. The addition of the proposed new peace garden will make a positive contribution to the local character and distinctiveness of the village and will also provide more open and green space to the community.”

Members of the public can have their say on the plans (Warwick District Council planning application W/20/0447) until Thursday, May 28.