Plans to turn a former school building in Warwick into four townhouses have been thrown out by district planners.

Warwick District Council (WDC) has already granted permission for Priory Block on Chapel Street to be demolished to make way for more homes, as part of King's High School's move to Myton Road.

However, developer Wake Green Limited had applied for fresh planning permission to keep the three-storey building and repurpose it for new houses, as well as to build three extra dwellings to the rear of the site.

The application submitted to WDC said the updated scheme was a "far more sustainable form of development over demolishing the building and erecting something with visually the same floor area".

However, the plans did not find favour, with a significant number of objections being made by council ecology, landscaping and conservation teams.

Warwick Town Council also objected, saying the designs were out of keeping with the local conservation area.

A drawing of the proposed houses (image via planning application)

Eight members of the public also wrote to the district council asking for the scheme to be thrown out.

And rejecting the application, district planners pointed out a number of issues.

"In the opinion of the local planning authority the provision of the town houses would result in a development that has sub-standard separation distances to the rear of existing properties that would result in a harmful overbearing impact, detrimental to the amenity of existing residents," the council's report said.

The site was also criticised for not providing enough parking.

And the report added: "In addition, the proposal has not satisfactorily demonstrated that the new townhouses would have acceptable living conditions in terms of potential noise impacts."

See the full application here.

A look to the rear of the Chapel Street site (imaeg via planning application)