Is 'studentification' harming Coventry communities?

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Is 'studentification' harming Coventry communities?

Postby dutchman » Fri Feb 16, 2018 2:44 am

Is ‘studentification’ harming Coventry communities?

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Trafford council in Manchester last week implemented an emergency Article 4 Direction, a planning law option open to all local authorities, to help it stem the flood of family homes lost through conversion to student accommodation.

Campaigners in Coventry, who say their neighbourhoods are being ​slowly ​ destroyed by “studentification”, have urged Coventry City Council to do the same, but is has steadfastly refused.

Here, Mike Parsons, chairman of Cannon Park Community Association, argues the case for the Article 4


The overwhelming influx of student housing in Cannon Park poses the biggest threat to the harmony and cohesiveness of what was traditionally a balanced, family neighbourhood.

We are in real danger of becoming a student dormitory for the University of Warwick.

The benefits to the university are obvious. It has expanded massively in the last decade to about 25,000 students but hasn’t provided anything like enough accommodation on campus.

For students, many of whom are from overseas, a house within a short walk of the university is an attractive proposition. The social dynamic of a housing estate is not on their curriculum, neither should we expect it to be. They are here to study and enjoy an important part of their lives.

But the issue should be high on the list of priorities of Coventry City Council. Not just in this neighbourhood but city-wide.

The number of HiMOs (Houses in Multiple Occupation) given planning permission by the city council in Cannon Park is already way above what would be permitted in other major university cities.

Those are cities which have implemented what’s known as an Article 4 Direction, effectively a local planning law which allows it to limit the number of HiMOs in any given area.

But the Coventry council has steadfastly refused to do this.

Why? Our city is facing a huge housing shortage and has recently announced huge areas of green belt will be sacrificed to meet targets.

Yet it has stood by as hundreds of former council houses, which provided relatively low-cost homes in Canley, Cannon Park and Cannon Hill, have been bought by developers to convert to student hostels.

It is doing nothing to stop bungalows – a scarce commodity in Coventry – being taken out of the housing stock by developers cashing in by converting them to hostels for up to 10 students.

Even harder to understand is the council’s economic logic, at a time when it is having to close libraries and health care facilities to meet budget cuts.

Once a house becomes student-only accommodation, no council tax is paid. Students are exempt, so too are landlords if they don’t live on the property.

The “loss” of council tax on those properties to Coventry city council is estimated at £6.5million a year.

As HiMOs are not classed as businesses, the owners – increasingly foreign investors- pay no business rates either. With some 10-bedroomed conversions raking in £75,000 a year in rent and local taxpayers picking up the bill for services like rubbish collection, is it any wonder they are exploiting the council’s open door policy?

Residents are entitled to ask why their needs take second place to the university’s.

Much is made of the prestige, investment, employment opportunities and vibrancy that the University of Warwick brings to Coventry.

We would agree with that. To a point.

But it also needs saying that Warwick University is a business. As it has charitable status, it benefits from massive Corporation tax exemptions and of course pays no council tax on halls of residence.

Those tax breaks helped it to record a “surplus” (i.e profit) of £41.5 million in the financial year ending July 2017.

It undoubtedly has brought jobs to the region, but judging be the queues of traffic coming in off the A46 each day most of its higher-paid staff live in south Warwickshire, not Coventry.

It’s a common jibe that Coventry council is so in awe of the university that when it says “jump” the response is “how high?”

But the truth about their relationship is far more subtle if no less insidious.

Over the years the city council has formed many business “partnerships” with the university, mostly bringing benefits to both parties. A recent example was the uni’s backing for Coventry’s successful City of Culture bid.

But have these close working partnerships diluted the independence of the city council when it comes to making decisions which might upset the university?

More information about Cannon Park Community Association is available on http://www.cannonpark.org

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