Leamington Spy

There seems to be much confusion (particularly on social platform, ‘Nextdoor’) about the political composition of Leamington, and which party is in favour of what stance when it comes to student accommodation. The former is easy to explain: There are NO Conservative councillors in Leamington.  So, in effect, Leamington is being presided over by a Tory-led council with no representation on its executive, which comprises councillors from everywhere else BUT Leamington. They literally have nothing to lose! However, and this is where it gets interesting. Brunswick Ward, which is Green, has the highest concentration of student accommodation and yet this is how the leader of the Greens, Brunswick councillor Ian Davison, replied to one of his constituents, Paul Cox, when he responded to his concerns (which we printed in a previous article): “I’m sure that all the councillors you’ve included in this email do care about this over-concentration of student accommodation… If I may finish with ...

  A cry in the wilderness Dear Councillors, I'm sending this to you because I know you have a particular interest in the issue. But please share with your colleagues! Purpose Built Student Accommodation (PBSA’s) and other Student Blocks in Leamington – how many are there, how big are they, where are they?......and does anyone in the Council care, or have a grip on this??   Headlines: There are 1,270 ‘bed spaces’ in Student Blocks across Leamington, including those under construction and/or with planning permission. Of these, an astonishing 996 – 78% of the total – are concentrated in just a very small area of Leamington i.e. within a half mile radius of the High St/Bath St/Clemens St junction. The great majority of these bed spaces – 1,157 or 91% - are in PBSA’s. However, there are also danger signs that ‘developers’ are looking at high-rent self-contained student flats (which don’t count as PBSA’s) – such as the application for a student block on Lower Avenue. Yet a...