Agenda and minutes

It was agreed that Councillor Connelly would Chair the meeting.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Russell.

Councillors were asked to declare any interest they had in the business on the agenda, and/or indicate if Section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 applied to them.

No such interests were declared.

Officers will be present to discuss the draft Student Housing Supplementary Planning Document that is currently being prepared by the Council.  Comments from the Community Meeting will then be submitted to the Council as part of its consultation on the draft document.

Ian Jordan, Senior Planner in the City Council’s Planning Policy and Design service, introduced himself to the meeting.

He explained that the draft Student Housing Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) had been produced in response to concerns about the amount of large scale purpose built student accommodation being built in the City and the number of properties in multiple occupation.  It was hoped that the final document could be adopted in May 2012, but before that was done a period of consultation was being carried out.

The SPD was in two parts.  The first of these was the criteria against which new applications for purpose built student accommodation would be considered.  There currently was no evidence that capacity for student accommodation had been reached, but officers’ professional view was that the City was reaching this point.  It therefore was proposed that, in the future, developers could be guided towards using taller buildings in the City centre, where there already was a greater density of buildings.

The second part of the SPD related to shared housing.  Government and Leicester City Council policy was that it was not possible to stop properties being changed to shared occupation for up to 6 people.  It therefore was proposed that, when the SPD was in place, consultation would be carried out on introducing an Article 4 Direction to prevent properties being changed from family to shared use. 

Mike Richardson, Head of Leicester City Council’s Planning Management and Delivery service, introduced himself to the meeting and explained that, if the SPD was adopted, it would become the basis for considering future planning applications for large scale student accommodation.

During discussion, it was stated that it appeared that every application for student accommodation was passed.  Mike Richardson explained that all planning applications were circulated widely.  They also were all publicised, for example by letters to neighbours or officers visiting meetings such as this.  For larger applications, public notices were placed in the Leicester Mercury.  If any objections to an application were received, or if a Ward Member requested it, an application would be submitted to the Council’s Planning and Development Control Committee for decision.

Any applications for student accommodation submitted before the moratorium on such developments introduced in November 2011 would not be subject to the SPD.  Officers were not aware of any existing applications that would be subject to the provisions of the SPD.

A resident enquired whether accommodation built for students could be used as general accommodation if there were insufficient students to fill it.  In reply, Mike Richardson advised that this would depend on whether the original planning permission had restricted its use to student housing.  If this was not the case, under the SPD evidence would be sought that it would be capable of being used for general accommodation.

The following comments and replies were then discussed:-

·           Comment: Developers were not required to provide green open space for student developments in the same way they would be for general  ...  view the full minutes text for item 36.

a)    Next Meeting

Residents were reminded that the next ordinary Westcotes Community Meeting would be held on Tuesday 20 March 2012.

b)   Meet the Mayor Event

It was noted that the City Mayor and the Assistant City Mayors would be holding a Meet the Mayor event outside Westcotes Library between 12.00 noon and 1.00 pm on Saturday 17 March 2012.  All residents were welcome to attend and raise questions and/or issues.

The meeting closed at 8.20 pm