Growing concerns about the amount of student accommodation being built in the city will be thrust into the spotlight at Bath & North East Somerset Council’s planning committee next week.
Berkeley House in The Square on the Lower Bristol Road | Image © Google Street View / Google 2024
Councillors are being asked to delegate permission to planning officers to permit the conversion of offices on the Lower Bristol Road to provide accommodation for 34 students.
But the chair of the planning committee Councillor Ian Halsall, who is also the ward councillor for the area, has highlighted his objection to the “proliferation of for-profit student accommodation in an unsustainable concentration”.
Eagle One Estates Ltd is behind the plans for Berkeley House, which forms part of a group of buildings known as The Square. Tenant BMT recently relocated to offices at Bath Quays South.
The developer says: “The site occupies a highly accessible location close to the city centre core and is well positioned to serve the requirements of both of the city’s universities.
“It is situated in a transport corridor in an area of mixed uses comprising commercial and, increasingly, residential uses, including student accommodation.”
An accompanying report from a city property consultant says that “Berkeley House is not strategically important office accommodation for Bath”.
It is proposed to retain most of the 22 existing car parking spaces on the site and provide secure parking for 24 bikes. The only external changes proposed are new windows.
Councillor Halsall (Liberal Democrat, Oldfield Park) has asked for the decision to be debated in public by members of the planning committee at their meeting on Wednesday, 12th February.
He has said he will be speaking against this proposal so will not chair that part of the meeting, nor take part in the debate.
He said: “I feel that the committee needs to discuss the principle of this development which whilst in policy terms may be in compliance, on balance we are seeing a proliferation of for-profit student accommodation in an unsustainable concentration along the Lower Bristol Road.”
The committee’s vice chair Councillor Lucy Hodge (Liberal Democrat, Lansdown) has agreed that it would be appropriate for the committee to determine the application given the significant number of applications for student accommodation on the Lower Bristol Road in recent years, in a location where there is a “deficit of lower cost open market and designated affordable accommodation”.
The council received 11 objections to the proposals, citing concerns which included students disturbing neighbours, that there are already “excessive” amounts of student accommodation in the city, and that it would be better to turn Berkeley House into residential flats to meet local housing need and generate council tax income.
B&NES Council’s own economic development team says the proposals would result in a “significant” loss of office accommodation and that there is an “abundance” of student accommodation in the city and a number of large applications within the planning system.
The team’s report says: “Indeed there are already a number of existing student accommodation blocks along this road: Twerton Mill, Charlton Court, Waterside Court, The Depot, Aquilla Court.
“A number of new PBSA (purpose-built student accommodation) developments are also being built on the same road at Jubilee Centre, Dick Lovett, Frome House.
“There has been no evidence provided from the universities that this additional development is needed or required to meet their student numbers.”
The team adds: “A recent increase in the number of off-campus PBSA developments across the city has raised concerns that current policies are not strategically directing such development to suitable locations,”
Council planning officers say the proposed change of use of Berkeley House from offices to student accommodation is in accordance with the Local Plan as a whole and that no conflict with any relevant policy has been identified.
“Whilst material considerations relating to loss of office space, jobs and economic activity have been raised, these do not outweigh compliance with relevant policies.”
Their report adds: “The site is adjacent to a significantly larger student accommodation development which provides evidence that the proposed use can be accommodated in this area without detriment to neighbouring uses, local amenity or environmental quality.
“It is judged that residual impacts to transport, amenity, ecology, sustainability and flood risk can be managed through planning conditions and obligations. No material considerations have been identified that warrant refusal of the application.”
