HMOs and the studentification of Leamington Spa
Professor Darren Smith has made a career out of studying the impact of students on towns and cities in more ways than one. As a leading academic and geographer at Loughborough University, he has an impressive record of research, teaching and editorial achievements. However, his reputation as an international expert rests on his identification of the phenomenon of ‘studentification’ - a term he coined himself and which entered the Macmillan English Dictionary in 2003 with the definition: “the social and environmental changes caused by very large numbers of students living in particular areas of a town or city”.
Dense concentrations
His initial documentation of the problem was in his home town of Leeds where he noticed the ‘in-migration’ of students and the ‘out-migration’ of established residents: a change which caused ‘conflict and tensions’. The classic trajectory of studentification including the appearance of dense concentrations of young people, the inflation of property prices, housing stock becoming increasingly dominated by HMOs, decreasing levels of owner-occupation, and the downgrading of the physical environment, will all be familiar to those of us who live in the central Leamington Wards of Brunswick and Clarendon.
A unique position
Professor Smith’s in-depth analysis of Leamington’s unique position as the university town without a university demonstrates unequivocally that Leamington is suffering from exactly the same challenges as other university towns and cities. Issues such as noise nuisance, refuse overspill/non-collection, fly-tipping, increased traffic congestion and the reduction in affordable housing for local families, have become a feature of Leamington life but with little or no recognition by the university concerned.
Student only spaces
On the horizon, according to Professor Smith, is more Purpose Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) and ‘student only spaces and housing’, which can ultimately lead to the ‘de-studentification’ of neighbourhoods previously characterised by high levels of student HMOs (if not effectively planned and delivered). Initially, this can mean cultural, economic and physical decline for those areas, which had become totally student-orientated and devoid of the type of local businesses and services which serve a permanent, settled population.
Late to the party
What has surprised Professor Smith and what is perhaps indicative of the exceptional situation in which Leamington finds itself, is the general feeling a lack of pro-active strategic interventions by leading actors from the University and District Council. In his extensive experience advising and working with other local authorities and universities, he has observed a range of good practice strategies, procedures and policies, which can mediate and mitigate the negative impacts caused by studentification. Up to now, virtually none of them seem to have been fully adopted by Warwick District Council or Warwick University. These include the existence of a local student housing policy, joined up working and planning for change, a complaint response strategy, neighbourhood helplines and noise abatement schemes.
We are, says Professor Smith, extremely ‘late to the party’ in this regard.
