The joint administration quickly discovered that the Council’s housing stock was not being managed properly and had to refer the Council to the national regulator and work put things right continues.

We inherited a large financial deficit and the previous administration had no plan to fix it. Two years, later our plan to balance the books is on track.

In amongst these massive issues we’ve successfully delivered: 

• First council in England to introduce soft plastic recycling for every household.
• Funding for a retrofit programme for Council housing that will bring it to at least EPC C to reduce emissions and bills for some of the least well off. 
• 62000 bulbs planted and 164 tennis courts worth of new meadows. 
• 20% Reduction in dangerous pesticide use. 
• 4 New hibernation sites created for amphibians  & reptiles  plus 781m of new hedgerow laid. 
• More funding for Community Wardens to make our streets safer
• Extra flytipping crew and more enforcement to keep our streets tidier. 
• Solar panels on leisure centres and lorries to reduce bills
• Investment to improve our Council houses and new affordable stock being built
• A new HMO licencing scheme to raise rental standards
• Extra cash for Citzens Advice to help during the Cost of Living Crisis 
• New Victoria Park paddling pool open (St. Nicholas’ on its way)
• Making our play areas more accessible – 63 language communication boards added to play areas
• New rules allowing more double glazing in listed buildings to reduce bills
• New screen, sound system and seating in Spa Centre
• An increase in events and funding to bring more people into town centres to boost local businesses. 
• A new footbridge over the Leam – wider to allow cycling on a key cycle route! 
• Brand new retail area within the foyer space in pump rooms for artists asked to vacate old shop
• New Diwali lights at top of Parade

There’s plenty more to come: 

• Jubilee House in Kenilworth refurb to reduce emissions and bills is about to start on 4 August 2025, 
• A new community arts hub with public space in South Leamington
• The new swimming pool in Kenilworth is currently on the time schedule we set out to open next year, 
• Work to significantly reduce emissions and bills from the Temperate house in Jephson Gardens
• A new path from Myton Road to Fusilier’s Way to reduce traffic on the Myton Road. 
• The World Bowls is coming to Leamington, 
• A new community centre at the Packmores Warwick is in the pipeline. 
• ‘In use’ testing of our new properties to hold developers to account so they’re building to the standard they’re meant to. 
• We continue to both work hard to improve services for residents and save money. 
• Upgraded and more accessible play areas in Castle Farm Kenilworth, Mill Gardens Leamington & St Nicholas Park Warwick.
• A new ‘Recycling on The Go’ scheme to improve recycling in our towns and public spaces.

There are challenges and we don’t get everything right all the time, but the Joint administration has achieved a lot together. 

As Greens we are committed to co-operating with others to get things done to make Warwick District a greener, happier, healthier place for residents to live. 

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Tracey Drew

Kenilworth Park Hill

Mark Stevens

Lapworth and West Kenilworth

Jonathan Chilvers

Leamington Brunswick

Will Roberts

Leamington Willes

Sam Jones

Warwick North

Nicki Scott

Warwick South

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Back in 2021, your local Green councillors proposed a plan for sustainable housing on the Leyes Lane site with a good mix of affordable homes, planned to promote active travel, conserve Kenilworth’s green spaces and enhance biodiversity.  Above all we were keen to see you, the local residents, engaged in planning our common future.

The site eventually came into the ownership of the District Council in November 2024 and since then the Housing Team at WDC has been working at pace to develop the plans.  On January 16^th this year WDC issued a press release confirming the three key ambitions for the site:

• For a minimum target of 40% affordable homes, as part WDC’s commitment to address the national housing crisis
• To build low carbon homes and assess the potential for Passivhaus and other low energy construction techniques
• That these developments should complement the local Kenilworth community

Spruce Retrofit was appointed to guide the Council in the development of their vision. These specialists are providing advice on low cost, low carbon options and the potential for Passivhaus developments for the sites, which go beyond the requirements of the Council’s newly adopted net zero Development Plan Document (DPD). 

Once this work is complete the Council’s housing team will work alongside development and regeneration experts Altair Ltd, who have been commissioned to advise on how the sites can viably achieve these ambitions. The Council is expecting to receive the findings of Spruce and Altair during April and will use their recommendations to finalise specification requirements and to accelerate the delivery of housing on the sites.

In response to a question from Cllr Kennedy on 20^th March, WDC confirmed that good progress is already being made.  Specifically the following steps are underway:

1. Assess the cost and carbon performance of different building standards (such as Passivhaus).  This is the work that Spruce/Randall Simmonds are currently working on (update below):  complete at end of March.
2. Review options for the schemes in the context of the emerging Housing Development Strategy.  This is the work Altair are currently working on with Spruce/Randal Simmonds (update below): complete first week April.
3. In the context of our aspirations for what is actually built (carbon performance, mix of housing, amount of social housing etc) agree realistic delivery options including an assessment of delivery timescales, viability and overall impact on the Housing Revenue Account: WDC will need to work on this in April.
4. Consider including a proposal in the Local Growth Initiatives to meet any gaps between our aspirations and the scheme viability: input from finance is critical for this and their capacity is limited, so we don’t expect it until late April or May.

It is difficult to be specific about the process thereafter because the agreed delivery mechanism will be critical to the procurement options we choose to take and will require financial and risk assessments, which will follow the Spruce and Altair work. 

Update from Randall Simmonds/Spruce work: RS/Spruce have completed a first draft of their report and have committed to finalising the report next week. Unsurprisingly, the report is suggesting that for carbon reduction and residents’ energy bills, Passivhaus Premium is the best option; however, it is also the most expensive option in terms of development costs. The report gives us realistic numbers to play with for steps 3) and 4) above. 

Update from Altair: they are continuing to draw together the work on the Housing Development Strategy and hope to have a draft report with us soon. In parallel with that they have been working with RS/Spruce to ensure that the approach and scheme design for Leyes and Rouncil is consistent with the Housing Strategy. As part of this, they will be setting out delivery options for us to inform step 5) above. 

As your local councillors we will continue to keep you informed as soon as possible on the progress being made on this project, which is so important for the future of Kenilworth. 

If you have any questions, please contact us via the website

With best regards

The post What is happening at the Leyes Lane site? appeared first on Warwick District Green Party.

Green bin charges are part of the wider ’fees and charges’ of the Council. The Conservatives set an annual overall increase of these of 15% every year in 2020, which was later reduced to 10% every year.

See 4.2 here in council document

When the Green Party became part of the administration at the District Council after elections in May 2023 we inherited an overall financial annual shortfall of £3.5 million every year with no programme to fix it. As part of the joint administration we have put in place a plan to balance the books and deliver excellent services for residents. We have identified plenty of places where it is possible, over time to do both. That programme of efficiencies has come in on target and on budget in March 2025, but there is still some way to go. It’s not possible to fix this bigger shortfall overnight.

This shortfall was even with increasing fees and charges like green bin charges and the Conservatives (along with all other parties) supported the increases in 2023/4 and 2024/5 on 15 Nov 2023 & 27 Nov 2024 respectively.

We would love to not have to charge more, or indeed charge at all for green bin collections, but with the inherited financial position the choice before us is to charge for a green bin service or not have one at all.

We are working to end the assumption that charges will keep going up by 10% a year. We don’t think it’s fair to build this assumption in that is so far above inflation. This is part of our work to make the books balance and deliver valued services that are there when residents need them.

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