Students bringing ‘vibrancy’ back to City Centre
Plymouth’s status as the fifth biggest student city in the UK requires a more balanced approach to providing adequate accommodation for them.
That’s according to Mark Slade from Bruton Knowles’ Lockyer Street office, who says Plymouth City Council should retain a flexible approach rather than setting limits on the number of new schemes being brought forward.
He said: “Plymouth City Council has vowed to take a more stringent approach to new planning applications for student accommodation – and they are right to insist the situation must be closely monitored.
“But this demand is being driven by increasing numbers of foreign students. Plymouth University could have as many as 22,000 students and they have to live somewhere.”
Bruton Knowles has been brokering the investment sale of a student investment in Harwell Street, close to the campus.
“It is a good 10 minutes’ walk from the university but it has already been fully let for the 2017-18 academic year. This demonstrates the enormous demand – especially from foreign students - for good quality accommodation in Plymouth.”
He went on: “We understand people are concerned at the number of new schemes going up around the city centre. We have a 348 bed student accommodation block going up just behind our office.
“We fully agree Plymouth should not allow the City Centre to become reliant on students - but they do bring vibrancy back to areas which had become far too quiet to support the businesses operating there.”
Mark Slade was commenting following a Plymouth City Council report stating that the city had ‘more than enough to cater for predicted student numbers’.
He concluded: “We have similar reports coming in from Bath and Cardiff, where colleagues are reporting the public mood is turning against further large scale student accommodation buildings.
“But Plymouth University is getting bigger and this brings vibrancy back to our streets and investment into every branch of business. The people we are meeting believe student accommodation still has a shelf life in this city.”
For further details contact Mark Slade on Plymouth 01752 936101 or via email mark.slade@brutonknowles.co.uk
