Town councillors and local residents have objected to plans to turn a former Warwick car showroom into two new shops.

'Warwickshire Partnership' has applied for planning permission to repurpose the former Kia Showroom on Stratford Road, which has been vacant since April 2023.

Plans submitted to Warwick District Council show the smaller unit would be used for a business such as a hairdressers, funeral director or salon.

Meanwhile the larger of the two would become a 'top-up' food shop.

But Warwick Town Council has submitted a holding objected to the application until comments are received from environmental health, highways and contract services.

"Also, [we] raise an objection on the grounds of pedestrian safety on the site as proposed," the council wrote.

"Vehicles and pedestrians will be crossing each other to come in and out of the site.

"This does not seem to concur with WDC Local Plan policy...is there an improvement to the layout which could be made so the parking was to the rear of the properties?"

The building has recently been on the market with local property agent Bromwich Hardy.

But the application says there is no need to keep the unit as a car showroom as a new Kia dealership opened on Heathcote Lane in May 2023.

An assessment of other vacant units across Warwick was also submitted, which said the potential new units on Stratford Road would add something different to the local retail offering.

"Due to the historic nature of the centre and historic street pattern the shops and units are small," the application said. 

"The centre also has not experienced any significant new investment in the recent past. 

"As such, the centre does not have any major new purpose built modern retail floorspace."

Plans also show an ATM would be installed, as well as one disabled parking space and two EV charging spaces.

But a holding objection has also been submitted by environmental health, raising concerns about the amount of noise from the possible new businesses.

"As the proposed development could negatively impact on the use of existing residential gardens/outdoor amenity space, further assessment is required to consider this," the objection said.

Seven other objections have also been submitted by local residents.

"The damage to residential amenity, the inadequacy of parking provision, and the creation of an unsafe frontage area together lead to our request that the application should be refused," the objection on behalf of The Warwick Society said.

See the full application here.