Rules set to change on student flat standards
Political Editor RULES could be changed to stop developers building student flats which will never be filled.
After months of concern about the amount of flats being built, specifically for students but seemingly without the demand, the Welsh Government says it will look at changing the rules.
It would not stop permission being granted, or flats being built, but mean they had to be built to rules which would mean if students didn’t move in they met the guidelines for social housing and could therefore be used by those waiting for homes.
At a press conference on Tuesday Housing Minister Julie James was asked if she had concerns about the amount of student housing being built in Wales.
She said: “It’s a concern not just about student flats but just about the type of housing that’s built generally and what we can do with it if it’s not utilised for the purpose it was originally intended.
“I’m very keen – we’ll be consulting shortly – about changing the space standards in Wales so that everything is built to social housing standards.
“So a student flat that’s built to social housing standard can be taken over by a registered social landlord and utilised for the desperate need for social housing that we have but if it’s built to a much smaller standard then it can’t be utilised in that way and that seems a shame to me.
“We have a private rented sector, I’m sure some will end up in there. I’d like to see them built to the standard in the first place to swap into the social housing sector if we can get that through.”
She added that a consultation on building regulations will start soon.
In Cardiff, a council officer was one of those to warn that smaller and larger blocks were struggling to be filled.
Some developers of student flats, which have already been built, have subsequently asked for permission to temporarily rent the flats out to nonstudents as there wasn’t a sufficient take-up to make the scheme viable.
When asked if she felt planning permission was too easy for developers to get, Ms James said: “It’s very hard to generalise about planning consents until you know the specifics about a particular policy in a particular area.
“I would say that it does seem in most of the university cities we have that developers are keen to get the student pound and it seems unlikely they are going to fill all of those with students so we have some concerns about what’s going to happen after that.
“We have been speaking to the university town councils to try to strengthen the planning rules. It’s not about stopping them being built but having them built to the standards that means we can utilise them if they don’t come forward for student housing for the sort of housing that we desperately need.”
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