Coventry neighbours angry at plans to convert home into "student motel"

[dutchman]

120 Cannon Hill residents sign petition against plan to convert bungalow



Residents in a Coventry neighbourhood say they want the council to put their concerns ahead of those of property developers cashing in on demand for student accommodation.

More than 120 people living in and near Merynton Avenue in Cannon Hill have signed a petition calling on city planners to throw out plans to convert a two-bedroom bungalow into a 10-bedroom shared house.

Coun John Blundell (Con, Wainbody) will present the petition to Coventry City Council’s planning committee.

Neighbours of the bungalow are outraged at the plans for a ‘home of multiple occupation’ (HMO), claiming that it’s a attempt to establish a business on the doorstep of pensioners with mobility problems.

The petition has been organised by Graham Morrall who lives opposite the proposed development in one of six bungalows built by the city council in the 1950s for elderly people or families with access needs because of disability.

They are still allocated for those categories of tenants by Whitefriars Housing.

The proposal is for number 6 Merynton, the first of the privately-owned homes in the avenue.

The application, by Birmingham-based property company M and S Property seeks permission to extend the rear of the property and build four bedrooms in the roof and six on the ground floor.

A spokesperson for Volta Designs, the agency employed by the property company, said if planning permission is granted the house would be rented to students and there would be a no car policy for all tenants.

It is the latest in a string of applications by developers snapping up family homes in the Cannon Hill-Cannon Park area to convert for student accommodation.

Merynton Avenue resident Steve Chilton said: “People here are not anti-student. This area has a long tradition - stretching back to the days of Canley Teacher Training College - of residents letting rooms out to students.

“But that is not what we are seeing now. These are businesses, motivated purely by profit, exploiting planning rules to build what are, by any other name, student motels.

“The decision for councillors is simple: do they put the needs and concerns of residents first or the profits of outside companies? They do have powers to limit the spread of HMOs. Now’s the time to use them.”

He also called for Warwick University to review its policy on student accommodation in residential areas.

“The uni is really a silent partner in many of these HMO conversions. Once the developers have done the dirty work and disrupted the neighbours, they lease out the house to the university which then sublets to students. It is a crucial link in the commercial chain for mainly absent owners.”

A spokesperson for the University of Warwick said the university currently has no connection with the property and that it is up to Coventry City Council to decide whether to grant planning permission for the change.

He said: “For residents it’s much better if we are letting a property to students rather than a private landlord. That’s because if there are any problems residents can come to us and we can resolve the problems.”

[Melisandre]

Why are disabled and the elderly people having to wait years for a bungalow as there are so few yet they can convert and give one for students .

[dutchman]

Limit students moving into family homes says councillor

Coventry City Council should consider imposing limits on the number of students who can live in a residential area, according to a Conservative councillor.

It's after a survey by locals in the Cannon Park area, found that 40% of the family homes in the area, have been let out to students at the University of Warwick.

John Blundell told BBC Coventry and Warwickshrie he's presenting a petiton to the council calling for limits.