Keynsham town councillors have highlighted the problems of excessive student accommodation being built off campus in Bath, saying plans for university halls in Keynsham are “totally inappropriate”.
Work is ongoing at The Brook, a purpose-built student accommodation scheme, in Bath
In a detailed 21-page response to Bath & North East Somerset Council’s Local Plan Options Consultation, the town council says the identified need in the district for new housing is in Bath, not Keynsham, or near outlying villages.
It says: “If people are to walk and/or cycle to work new housebuilding should be where the jobs are.
“The construction of so many student properties in Bath that are so far from their respective university campuses is not helping the situation.
“The student let market is in direct competition for development space and B&NES Council’s declared commitment to build affordable housing within the city.
“The predicted growth in jobs and need for new housing in Bath is likely to be mainly in the academic, care, retail and hospitality sectors as these are the main employers in Bath.
“The workers in these new roles are likely to be looking for affordable housing, which in turn will aid staff retention.
“Due to the need for affordable housing provision in Bath, B&NES Council is strongly advised to follow the European model of encouraging and/or providing incentives for developers to convert existing buildings, including large terraced residential properties, and unused retail and commercial buildings to apartments for sale or rental. This might include the sympathetic conversion of some of Bath’s Georgian buildings.”
The report by Keynsham Town Council (KTC) goes on to say that the Local Plan “seems to be very soft on the issue of student accommodation: the two universities say what they want and then we give it to them. If the universities want to expand then they should internalise the costs of doing so.
“We believe that B&NES should refuse to plan for increased student accommodation. Universities’ incentives (and universities’ vice chancellors’ incentives) have many perversities and local communities should not suffer from that.”
Although KTC says it partially supports proposals for development in North Keynsham, it is “very surprised that this proposal includes student accommodation as the location is totally inappropriate”.
KTC points out in its report that Keynsham has already seen major growth.
From 2011-2024, an additional 2,300 houses have been completed in the town and several hundred more have planning permission to be built.
“The population is therefore around 20,400 which is an increase of more than 30% since 2011. This is a big increase, proportionately higher than the fastest growing city/regions in the UK (Cambridge, Peterborough, Milton Keynes, etc).”
KTC gives its opinion on other options for development in North East Somerset, including a scathing assessment of the idea of putting housing on Keynsham town centre car parks.
The town council says: “Development in the town centre and Tesco site is a most unwelcome intrusion into the dynamics of the town centre that KTC has worked consistently to expand with success for a number of years.
“The first proposal is absolutely unacceptable. It is totally incorrect to say that this is a development of brownfield land. The layout of the existing Tesco’s works well and switching the location of car park and supermarket would make access to deliver vehicles harder.
“Even if there were any long-run gains (which is highly doubtful), the disruption to Keynsham and the absence of a supermarket while the project went ahead would be disastrous.
“The Local Plan mentions the ‘embodied carbon considerations relating to redevelopment of existing building’ but ignores the carbon considerations and other costs of depriving Keynsham of a supermarket while the old one is being demolished and the new one is being built.”
KTC is also critical of the idea of converting Ashton Way car park into flats.
“Keynsham Town Council do not agree that the car parks are under-utilised, and residents and businesses of our town would have the same opinion. To suggest that they are only 55% full is a poor manipulation of the data.
“Removing the opportunity for residents to use their cars will only cause anger and frustration if there is no alternative means of transportation to get around the town.
“Once again, cycling is not the only answer. You cannot transport the weekly shop for a family on your bike or on a bus.
“The plan does do not account for the aging population of Keynsham and the topography of the land (for ease of walkers as the get older). Users of town facilities (shops, the library and recreational places) cannot be expected to arrive on foot or by bike, especially those that live on the outskirts and neighbouring rural villages that rely on use of such facilities.”
Of the plans to build up to 3,000 homes on farmland south of Burnett, the town council’s report says: “The paucity of services and environmental destruction in this location makes it a totally inappropriate location for development.”
It adds: “Residents of this new village will still need to commute to Bath or Bristol, further straining Keynsham’s already congested roads. It is an incomplete solution. Without the provision of medical facilities (doctors/dentists), school and local amenities an additional burden would be place on Keynsham’s existing and failing resources.”
You can read the town council’s response in full here.
B&NES Council has said that its planning team is carefully considering the issues raised in all the comments and feedback and they will help to shape the Draft Local Plan.
This story was first published on The Week In, our sister title.
