Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Student complex to be summer hotel
One of Canterbury’s biggest student complexes has been accused of “undercutting” city hotels after winning a bid to offer its rooms to summer guests.
Palamon Court, which stands five storeys high and overlooks the ring-road, is home to more than 530 students during term time.
About 100 studios are located at the Rhodaus Town site, and developers want the “under-utilised” rooms to be occupied between July and September, when universities are not operating.
Canbury Holdings, the firm behind the project, has now received permission from the city council to have the site occupied throughout the whole year.
But Cllr Nick Eden-green believes the ambition to turn Palamon into a summer hotel is “unfair” on other operators which rely heavily on the summer trade.
“I’m very much against it,” the long-standing Lid Dem councillor said.
“As a city, we’ve spent years trying to get hotels to open and now student accommodation can simply be turned into hotels. “It’s undercutting our existing hotels in the critical summer months. It’s unfair competition for our current offerings and B&BS.
“The student accommodation makes all its money in the other 10 months, so it can afford to be let at marginal costs.” When the original plan for Palamon was approved in 2016, stays during the summer months were blocked. Now, the site - which is having its foam panels replaced due to them being of the same material used at fire-ravaged Grenfell Tower - can be turned into accommodation for tourists and guests. There is no provision for parking at the development, so visitors will need to arrive by foot and no extra traffic will be created as a result.
Acacia Lodge B&B, a long-standing hotel in London Road, says it is upset by the decision.
The owners said: “It’s a huge place and just over the road from the city centre and they make enough money from the students.
“We have enough competition already.
“It’s been such a bad year and this makes it worse.
“We’re not impressed with the council.”
In granting permission for the changes, the council said: “The accommodation would remain available to students during term time but would allow an otherwise under-utilised building in the summer months to be let out to visitors.
“The application site is in a sustainable location with good public transport, walking and cycling links to the city centre and other locations and a legal agreement has been secured ensuring that the accommodation remains car-free.” A 24-hour front-of-house service catering for the guests will be in operation during the summer.
CRM Students, which drew up the plans to turn the site into a summer hotel, says it has the required “amenities, resources and management structure” to make it a successful lettings operation.
“Guests staying at Palamon Court will be residing in a fully furnished standard studio with access to the communal reception area and landscaped courtyard,” the plans state.
The council says there is a need for more visitor accommodation in the district, and therefore approved the bid. Next to Palamon Court, construction work is continuing on a 146-student block on the site of the former St Mary Bredin School.
‘It’s unfair competition for our current offerings and B&BS’