Earlsdon residents left furious after plans submitted for student accommodation in 'suburbs'

[dutchman]

A public consultation is currently open and locals have made a petition



Residents in Earlsdon have been left angry after a new planning application has been submitted for student flats.

The proposed plan is to demolish the current building, used for offices and warehouses, and build the two to five storey accommodation.

The flats will replace Argyle House on Collingwood Road, which sits in the middle of two residential streets.

Locals have expressed their views and urged others to sign a petition ahead of Coventry City Council 's decision on the application, which aims to build over 100 student rooms.

98 people have signed the petition so far.

Roy Collins shared the news on the local Facebook page and claimed "greedy developers" would "destroy" the area if these plans were approved.

He said: "Plans have been submitted to build a 5 storey block of 110 student flats in Collingwood Rd, which is an Edwardian street of terraced houses.

"This is another example of greedy developers attempting to destroy an Earlsdon residential area. Please spare a few minutes to send in your objections."

Lisa Carvell commented: "I thought the reason for building all the flats in the city centre was to free up the other areas for housing. Why are the student flats now moving back to the suburbs again?"

Neil Campbell said: "I can’t understand why they persist in building student flats when many of the new ones already built are standing empty."

This comes after other students flats are in the process of being built on Albany Road.

The decision is currently pending and a public consultation is open until December 16, where people can comment on the plans.

People can have their say on the plans here and the final decision will be made in February 2022.

[dutchman]

Plans for student accommodation in Coventry suburbs branded 'completely inappropriate' by councillors

Councillors have raised concerns over plans submitted to build student accommodation in a Coventry suburb.

The block of flats will be two to five storeys high and will sit in the middle of two residential streets in Earsldon.

The proposed plan is to demolish the current building, Argyle House on Collingwood Road, which is used for offices and warehouses.

Labour councillor Bally Singh and Coventry North West MP, Taiwo Owatemi, have since said the planning application submitted to build over 100 student homes is "completely inappropriate".

A new petition has also called upon Coventry City Council to "take on board the concerns of residents".

Cllr Singh said: "This application for more than a 100 student rooms in the residential area is simply too much.

“Hearsall is a lovely place to live for the community and we need to keep it that way.

"Many local residents have already objected because they rightly fear this development will add to existing parking and environmental pressures.

“We will continue to listen to residents’ concerns regarding this development and make representations on their behalf.”

[rebbonk]

Questions need to be asked about why more student accommodation is required at all. We currently have a surplus and some has had a change of use to allow letting to non-students.

Does something begin to smell ever so slightly off here?

[dutchman]

Planning officer has 'no objection' to student housing in Earlsdon as amendments include roof top garden



An application submitted in November 2021 saw plans for a new student accommodation in Earlsdon and the officer responding has since made '"no objection".

The two to five storey block of flats would replace Argyle House on Collingwood Road.

And now, the plans have been amended which could see the university housing have a roof top garden too, if approved.

Two of the blocks have also had design changes made to them.

The responding officer's report, which is based off the consultation period, claims the plans would "improve the economic, social and environmental conditions in the area".

The officer also states the student accommodation is more "in-keeping" with the local area.

"Whilst the site was last used for industrial/commercial purposes, the principle of the current proposal is, in my view, acceptable on policy grounds," it reads.

"The redevelopment to create a residential based use, that of Purpose Built Student Accommodation is more in-keeping with the existing locality but should not materially harm the amenities of occupiers of nearby properties.

"I consider the proposal will provide the opportunity to re-use the site and provide development that improves the economic, social and environmental conditions in the area.

"I maintain no objection to the principle of the proposal on policy grounds."

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Since the plans have been amended, the public consultation has reopened and will close on February 10. You can have your say here.

An expected decision date for the plans has also been set for February 10.

A meeting was held last month (January) after residents were left furious by the plans submitted by "greedy developers".

Around 40 locals attended to discuss the 100-bed five-storey block of flats.

Taiwo Owatemi MP, Councillor Bally Singh and Councillor Jayne Innes, said they cannot see how this would work as it's a "massive over-development".

The current building, which is used for offices and warehouses, sits in the middle of two residential streets.

“We had an excellent session with concerned residents on Friday night. Cllr Bally Singh, Taiwo Owatemi MP and I will be working together with residents to fight these plans," Cllr Innes added.

“Bally and I have already made submissions in opposition to these plans. We will be attending Planning Committee to speak against these plans when the proposals are due for consideration.

“These plans are crazy and cannot be allowed to go ahead.”

[dutchman]

The officer also states the student accommodation is more "in-keeping" with the local area.

Should have gone to Specsavers!

[dutchman]

'Ludicrous' Coventry student flats plans withdrawn at last minute

A final decision on whether or not a block of students flats in Earlsdon can go ahead has been pulled from a planning committee meeting at the eleventh hour. Plans were submitted to Coventry City Council back in November 2021 which, if approved, would see Argyle House on Collingwood Road demolished and replaced with the two to four storey accommodation block.

A decision was originally expected to be made on February 10, 2022, however, the plans changed to include a roof top garden which meant the public consultation re-opened. Following the amendments, the planning officer also said they had no objection to them.

It is believed one of the areas of concern and reason as to why it was pulled from the agenda today was related to parking. Local Councillors Bally Singh and Jayne Innes were told of the change at 12.15pm on April 6 - the meeting was set to take place at 2pm yesterday (April 7).

Councillor Jayne Innes told CoventryLive : "We're really pleased that this item has been removed from today's agenda we see that as not a victory but certainly a step in the right direction. We hope that the developers won't be putting something else in [to the application] but if and when they do we will look at that as well [and] will continue to object it.

"At this stage I feel residents have been listened to and we hope that the developers will drop it from here."

Ms Innes said residents are completely against the "ludicrous proposal" and even with tweaks made to the application, the plans were still "insane". The proposed accommodation sits in between two residential streets and updated pictures, released by the architect, show the roof top garden and how close it would be to homes.

[dutchman]

'Ludicrous' Coventry student accommodation thrown out after residents' battle



Plans to build an 86-bed student block in a quiet Coventry suburb have been thrown out on appeal. The accommodation was set to replace a two-storey, mostly empty office block called Argyle House on Collingwood Road in Earlsdon.

But locals hit out at the lack of off-street parking spaces and "overbearing" two to five-storey design, in more than 350 letters of objection to the council. City councillors also criticised the scheme and Coventry MP Taiwo Owatemi wrote a letter to the council highlighting residents' concerns.

A smaller building with fewer beds and a roof terrace was submitted to the council after discussions between officers and the developer. The revised plan was earmarked for approval and due to go to a Coventry City Council Planning Committee last year.

But it was withdrawn at the last minute and the plans then went to a government inspector after the council failed to decide within the time limit. Last week, Inspector Liam Page ruled that the block would harm neighbours' living conditions and refused it planning permission.

He said: "The combination of high density accommodation and activity concentrated around a single point of access would give rise to a level of noise and disturbance incongruous with the existing residential context both during the day time and the night time. As such, the proposal would severely diminish the living conditions of neighbouring occupiers."

Mr Page also ruled that the council was justified in delaying its decision on the application and did not make an award of costs against it. He said: "It is clear from the council’s statement submitted with the appeal that they have explained why they did not reach a decision within the relevant time limit, the events of removing the application from committee, and subsequently why the application would have been refused."

Paulo Riess, 57, a founding member of the Hearsall Earlsdon Residents' Association, said he felt "relief" at the result. "It was great because we weren't expecting it," he told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

"Everybody said when it went to Bristol [the planning inspectorate] there was no chance of it being declined. It was really good news, I think that was a lot of people's reaction; relief."

Paulo, who lives a few streets away from Argyle House, said: "It was an enormous development for a corner in a quiet estate. It would have done so much damage and been such a blight for people living next to it."

He said he was concerned there wouldn't be an effective way to manage parking. Plans for the block included just two off-street spaces and 22 on-street.

[dutchman]

The joke is there's already a development behind Argyle House which is twice the height of the proposed student block!