Does London Mayor's new guidance on purpose built student accommodation address recent concerns in Brent?

 Marketing  video for purpose built student accommodation in Wembley Park

 

There has recently been discussion about the amount of purpose built student accommodation in Brent, with some disquiet even in the Brent Planning Committee. (See LINK) Rather than reflecting an anti-student prejudice it is often about the loss of sites that could otherwise be used for family housing and questions about balancing local communities.

Brent planners have insisted that the need for student accommodation both in Brent and London as whole has been established and contributes to housing targets,

The London Mayor has recently published London Plans guidance for London local planning authorities which reviews some of the issues. The full document can be found HERE and key extracts follow (my highlighting):

 

The Purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) London Plan Guidance (LPG) provides advice on how to apply London Plan Policy H15 to best meet London’s needs. This guidance applies to a specialist form of housing designed and managed for students. This typically comprises a mixture of flats for 6-8 students with shared living spaces, and larger studio flats, plus additional communal social spaces and other facilities.

As well as providing students with a place to live, PBSA can play an important role in alleviating pressures on the wider private rental sector. Indirectly its provision also helps underpin London’s higher education sector as a global player, and the wider knowledge economy of the city.

The LPG sets out detailed advice on siting, designing and developing such housing, including balancing it with other housing types. It aims to ensure that these developments are designed and managed to be of good quality, safe and inclusive and integrated into their neighbourhood. The guidance is aimed at those designing PBSA schemes and decision-makers assessing them as part of the planning application process.

 

London’s universities are disproportionately concentrated in a few areas, including within the CAZ (Central Activity Zone) . PBSA (Purpose Built Student Accommodation) has clustered in similar areas, particularly in inner London. This has diversified the student accommodation offer from the traditional, university-built PBSA, and private rented homes. Several boroughs where this is the case have sought to limit further growth in such (purpose built) student accommodation, as well as in some cases, HMOs Homes of Multiple Occupation). This reflects their concerns about housing mix in their neighbourhoods and the potential ‘crowding out’ of conventional housing, given other types of housing need amongst their population. However, in turn, other boroughs (including within outer London, some distance from where London’s universities are concentrated) have since seen a particularly high influx of PBSA schemes, giving rise to similar concerns.

 

PBSA in relation to neighbourhood housing mix can be considered in two ways:

 

• In support of PBSA proposals that help disperse from traditional concentrations to alternative, suitable locations – perhaps adding an element of student housing to existing residential stock that is primarily conventional housing. This may be particularly relevant where there is a shortage of family homes, which students are currently occupying as HMOs or which they could be in future, in light of PBSA shortages.

 

• As a more negative consideration, where there are long-standing or more recent concentrations of PBSA, or similar, non-self-contained accommodation, relative to conventional housing. This may be spatial (in particular neighbourhoods) or as a proportion of housing delivery, where PBSA may be considered to be ‘crowding out’ conventional housing schemes. Such dominance may be particularly acute under certain market conditions; and where development sites are limited (which would ordinarily be equally attractive for conventional residential use).

 

PBSA should form part of a wider positive strategy in delivering mixed and inclusive neighbourhoods in most Local Plans. It should be acknowledged that what is considered an appropriate balance of PBSA and conventional housing will differ across London, and within boroughs. Local Plans should identify if and where spatial concentration of PBSA, or proliferation of PBSA delivery compared to conventional housing delivery, is impacting the ability to ensure mixed and inclusive neighbourhoods. They should also identify more positive opportunities for PBSA to help contribute to local and strategic objectives.

This could be used to develop spatial policies; or to indicate the significance of neighbourhood or pipeline housing mix in decision-making.