Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Concern over plan for another block of student flats
Neighbours fear their community will be lost if plans to build more student homes in Canterbury are given the go-ahead.
Developers want to demolish the former Army Training Corps in Cossington Road to make way for a three-storey block of 45 studio flats.
These would be aimed exclusively at university students from overseas, post-graduates and language school students.
But residents say more than one-third of properties in the area are already houses of multiple occupation (HMOS) lived in by students.
Keith Rishworth, committee member and planning lead on the Oaten Hill and South Canterbury Association, said: “Residents have done a survey showing that within 100m of the ATC site there are 21 properties that are HMOS, against 46 residential homes. That’s 31% of the road already student-occupied.
“I think the big concern is there are already so many students living here already. Eventually you start to lose the feeling of community.”
A policy adopted by Canterbury City Council states planning permission should not be given for HMOS when they already make up 10% of properties within a 100m radius.
But, importantly, the Article 4 rule does not apply to purposebuilt student accommodation like that proposed in Cossington Road.
The application was submitted by Pegasus Group on behalf of SPV Cossington Road Developments.
Urban Start, which is a provider of purpose-built accommodation, will manage the building if the plan is granted permission by the city council.
In a statement, the company says the redevelopment of the ATC site has been “meticulously planned”.
A spokesman said: “The project has been carefully designed both to adhere to the key principles upon which Urban Start was founded, as well as to be sensitive to the needs of the residents, the local business community, and of the city as a whole.”