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 again, this is within the same small area – our area! – that most of the student blocks are in.

This is, of course, exactly the same small area already dominated by student HMO’s. Student blocks don’t release HMO’s back to the community in any way, they just add to the destruction of a mixed and balanced community, and to the wrecking of the housing market for local families.

All this has profound implications for our community – yet it’s happening without anyone in the Council seeming to care, let alone having a grip on it. 

Some questions for our Councillors:

Who in the Council should be held accountable for the proliferation of student blocks and the concentration of most within a small area of South Leamington already suffering from excessive numbers of HMO’s?

Are they being held accountable for this situation? Where and when is this happening?

Why doesn’t the Council have policies to resist the continued growth of student blocks, and their concentration in this small area? (Look at Manchester, which has a complete moratorium on PBSA’s – why can’t we?)

Does anyone with power recognise – and want to do something about – the overlay of student blocks onto an area with excessive numbers of HMO’s?

Why is this such a low priority?

When will the Council come up with policies to turn back the tide? – prevent more student blocks in our area, and produce ‘carrot and stick’ to turn HMO’s back to family homes?

What do you personally, as our local Councillors, think about this – and what can you do about it?


I've attached a paper with the detail of all the PBSA's and other student blocks I'm aware of. It's alarming and, as things stand, is only going to get worse.


Thank you, Paul

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