‘Dismal’ flats could affect wellbeing

I write regarding the protest against the plans for Twerton Park staged by Twerton residents the other week, and the response from Bath City Football Club printed in the Bath Chronicle.

In planning, there is a growing realisation of the need to support the wellbeing of tenants through the provision of decent schemes. The National Planning Policy Framework notes the objective of fostering communities through “a well-designed and safe built environment with accessible services and open spaces”.

And research into the benefits of sunlight and good views through windows has resulted in a new planning standard, EN 17037, which considers daylight factors and outlooks from buildings.

One problem is that student accommodation is not classed as housing, making it easier for developers to produce bad designs such as that promoted by the football club.

A combination of six and sevenstorey buildings, coupled with narrow communal areas which double as car parks, make for overshadowed unpleasant rooms.

Though the club states defensively that these planned flats “categorically passed their daylight assessment”, that is according to the old standard BS8206 which is due to be withdrawn.

The rooms would fail the new standard EN 17037 both on daylight and outlook.

The council’s Urban Design team has proposed ways to improve the amenity of these flats, including reductions in height and introducing gaps to let in more light. But their suggestions are all dismissed by the developer.

As a result, students would be paying £170 a week to live in a dismal setting (the club calls this “competitively priced”).

Our objection that such conditions could impact on the wellbeing of the students, is rejected by the club as “fiction”. However, there is a body of related research. For example, when I did a degree, I looked at the National Childhood Development Survey and how cramped housing conditions had many detrimental effects on the occupants.

Ultimately, this scheme involving excessive height, overshadowing and cramming, is at risk of becoming a precursor for further bad builds in Twerton – with implications for the long-term development of Twerton over the years to come. Joe Scofield Bath