Unveiled: The first glimpse of how our towns could look in 2026

In a report to be debated by Warwick District Council’s executive committee on Monday, planning officials have identified sites for some 10,800 homes to be built over the next 14 years.

Some 2,700 homes will be built in two phases between south Leamington and Warwick, with a further 900 around Whitnash and Sydenham.

Green belt boundaries north of Leamington would be redrawn to enable some 1,170 homes to be built at Blackdown north of Cubbington 810 in Milverton.

There would also be a possible north Leamington relief road and new employment land created north of Leamington.

Officials say the aim is to prevent towns growing together. District council leader Cllr Michael Doody believes the options give the best balance between meeting the demand for new housing in an attractive area and protecting villages.

He said: “We have to accept there is a need for this quantity of houses.

“If we say we’re not going with it a planning inspector would let developers decide where they want to build. That would be the biggest disaster this district has ever seen.”

The plan is intended to identify sites for businesses and industry as well as some 600 new homes a year and set out where schools, roads, parks and services are needed.

The report states the aim is to concentrate growth within and on the edge of existing towns, but avoid towns and villages joining together. It also sets out to distribute growth across the district, with more building in villages where a broad range of services and public transport exists and less in smaller villages, where it will meet local people’s needs.

Cllr Doody said that green belt up until now had been “sacrosanct”, but if this had remained the case, all growth would have been concentrated between Whitnash, Warwick Gates and Bishop’s Tachbrook, with none to the north of Leamington.

The biggest planned developments are between Warwick and Leamington, where 1,100 homes are planned in a ‘Myton Garden Suburb’ north of Gallows Hill and west of Europa Way, with a further 1,600 to follow south of Gallows Hill and west of Europa Way.

No houses are planned between Kenilworth and Coventry, but 770 are proposed between Thickthorn and the A46. Smaller estates are also planned, including 300 on Warwickshire College’s site in Warwick New Road, 80 on the former Ridgeway School site in Warwick and 50 each at Riverside House and Leamington fire station.

Cllr Doody said that with industrial expansion planned around Coventry Airport, and the area among the most attractive in the county, there was an inevitable demand for housing.

Eight weeks of public consultation is due to start between Friday June 1 and June 8, ending in late July or early August.

A draft local plan will be published in early 2013.

The executive committee will meet at Leamington town hall on Monday at 6pm.