Calls to regulate student housing in Cork

A planning crackdown on student accommodation in suburban Cork is on the cards in a bid to prevent the areas being swamped by overdevelopment.

Student housing pressure zones will be mapped and sites with capacity will be identified as part of the new planning strategy to control the development of future student housing schemes.

It follows calls from city councillors for more planning controls on “purpose built student accommodation” amidst a surge in such planning applications.

With a student population of 40,000 in the city, there are plans in the pipeline for some 2,666 bed spaces.

Most are concentrated in the south west area of the city, close to UCC and CIT.

Fine Gael Cllr John Buttimer, who led calls last May for tighter controls on such student accommodation, said the developer-led approach is “choking and suffocating traditional residential communities” and driving residents out of traditional suburban areas. He likened it to the “ethnic cleansing” of local communities.

Planning officials, who have spent the last few months preparing a scoping document, outlined their plans for the new strategy last week: “As sites become available to develop close to a college, there is no planning regulation that planners can use to restrict the occupancy of a particular type of residential over another.

“A strategic approach to new-build student housing is now required. This approach will anticipate the potential impacts of such development and help identify the best appropriate locations.”

They said they now want to develop a comprehensive and specific student accommodation strategy for the city that will provide planning policy guidance and facilitate the provision of an appropriate quality and adequate supply of suitable student housing options.

They now plan to:

• Gather data on student numbers in each third-level institution to ascertain how many need student accommodation;
• Map the distribution of student-occupied accommodation and identify pressure areas;
• Identify the location and capacity for more purpose-built student housing;
• Explore how Cork can unlock sites through targeted infrastructure projects;
• Research similar planning policy in other student cities in Ireland and the UK to help shape Cork’s new policy;
• And work with relevant stakeholders involved in the delivery and management of student accommodation to identify their interests and need.

Mr Buttimer said it was essential UCC and CIT were involved in the process, as well as local residents’ associations: “We are not anti-student accommodation but we need a reasonable, planned, strategic and systemic approach to the development of such projects. It’s developer-led and piecemeal at the moment.”

The new policy should insist student accommodation projects above a certain bed number should be gated, managed and supervised, he said. And he said he hoped the policy would be incorporated in the City Development Plan to copperfasten it by March or April at the latest.

According to Census 2016, Cork’s third-level student population is close to 40,000, with just over 23,000 attending UCC; almost 12,500 attending CIT and its constituent colleges; almost 2,000 attending the College of Commerce; 1,000 attending St John’s Central College; and around 800 attending Scoil Stiofáin Naofa.

Editorial: 12