New plan for student bed space schemes
They said “occupancy restrictions and controls” can be used instead as conditions of planning to protect the residential amenity of established residential areas.
The details are set out in a report to members of Cork City Council’s Strategic Planning Committee which recommends the terms of a new policy to manage the development of student accommodation in the city.
It comes against the backdrop of an unprecedented surge in planning applications for off-campus student accommodation in the city in recent months — with almost 3,000 student beds in the pipeline.
Several schemes, mostly in the south-western suburbs, have triggered local opposition.
Planners have now suggested a raft of amendments to the City Development Plan to give effect to the new policy.
Fine Gael councillor John Buttimer welcomed the report as a good first step but said the policy could go further.
“I think we should be able to designate specific sites as unsuitable for the larger schemes, and suggest others that are more appropriate,” he said.
Fianna Fáil councillor Sean Martin also welcomed the report, but said such a policy should have been introduced years ago.
About 40,000 students are in third-level education in Cork. The number of full-time students has risen steadily since 2001 — up 26% between 2006 and 2016, from 19,500 students to 24,750.
The current demand for student rental accommodation in the city is around 13,000 bed spaces, sourced either in the private rented sector or in PBSA.
The city’s existing PBSA supply is 3,788 bed spaces, with 2,748 to be delivered in the coming months, including on the former Beamish and Crawford site, in the former Square Deal premises, and on the Crow’s Nest site.
The report says the main supply of student housing, particularly around UCC, comes from the private rented sector, with most of the housing stock occupied as house shares in property built originally for single occupation by individuals, couples, and families.
However, it says there is no provision in planning law to distinguish between a dwelling of single occupation and multiple occupation, even though the material impacts can be significant, with dwellings of multiple occupation in some cases leading to a steady decline of the character and condition of streets and properties.
While the benefits of PBSA are outlined, including reducing demand in the private rented sector, thereby freeing up housing stock, the complaints are about noise generation, late night activities, and the scale and design of some schemes which are out of keeping with the character of certain areas.
The report says while most of this development has been in the south-western suburbs on transport corridors near UCC and CIT, future development is likely to migrate eastwards towards the city centre and docklands.
The proposed changes to the City Development Plan will be subject to public consultation.
