Town councillors have backed fresh plans to repurpose a canalside pub - just months after it was put up for sale.

Developer Cresco Investors Limited had previously applied for planning permission to flatten the Waterside Inn and replace it with a 40-bed apartment building before withdrawing the plans last year following a number of objections.

Previous planning applications to Warwick District Council had said there had been a "universally negative" response to try and secure a new operator to reopen the business.

The Queensway boozer was then put on the market with local agent Bromwich Hardy, with a guide price of £2,750,000. The listing has since been taken down.

Since then Cresco has put forward a more modest scheme, this time to turn the Waterside into eight residential units.

And members at Leamington Spa Town Council have submitted a note of support for the plans.

"The town council supports the development of a brownfield site and proposed sustainable energy improvements to the building," the supporting comment said.

Meanwhile Warwick Town Council has submitted a 'neutral' comment.

If approved, the scheme would see the first floor split into two apartments, while the ground floor would be turned into six flats.

Plans show there would be a mix of studio and two-bedroom flats.

"The proposal seeks to bring life back to a site which has remained vacant for over four years," the application says.

"Our aim is to provide high quality, residential accommodation in an area of Leamington which offers the necessary amenity required for this use. In tandem which this, we seek to improve the material performance of the building internally, thus retaining the external fabric of the building and protecting the integrity of the Canal Conservation Area.

"To further enhance the area, it is proposed to increase the 'green' spaces of the site to ensure biodiversity is maintained and the amenity of the residents is protected.

"With all things considered, we believe the proposal endeavours to provide accommodation which adheres to national a local planning policy and the associated building regulations in England."

The application must still be approved by Warwick District Council before any development can begin.

See the full application here.

(Header image by Robin Stott via geograph.org.uk)