Large new student accommodation in Coventry to be built as warnings rejected

A Coventry student block can be built after the council agreed to grant a new lease for the land. But a request from the public for councilors to examine the approach in more detail and possibly reject it was rejected.

Land at Westwood Business Park can be used for student housing as part of a “re-fencing” of the lease, a councilor agreed yesterday (May 13). This means the offices can be demolished and replaced with the 544-bed student building.

But more than a dozen residents called on the council to allow the decision to be “appealed” by control councillors. This would have allowed members to review it and possibly recommend a rethink.

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Scrutiny chairman Labor councilor Naeem Akhtar was at the meeting, which was held to agree the decision was so urgent it did not need to be “called”. The meeting papers said this was to avoid a delay that would push back the opening of the student block by a year, meaning the “enhanced income” for the council would have been delayed.

But a petition signed by 17 local residents contested whether the decision was “urgent” in the sense that it would seriously harm the council and the public interest. They rejected claims about the scheme in the report, pointing out that student blocks in the city center are being re-used due to a lack of occupiers.

“The emergency would deprive the public of that control,” they said. The petition’s sponsor, Conservative councilor Marcus Lapsa, referred to the “strength of feeling” of residents in the Westwood Heath neighborhood in his comments at the meeting.

“This is student accommodation in addition to student accommodation,” he said. A call would mean a number of factors could be considered, including the loss of land for jobs in the area, he added.

“Whatever that decision is, the local community can be assured that the correct control steps have worked,” he concluded. Residents also had concerns about a possible conflict of interest over the appeal decision, as Cllr Akhtar had voted for the student block as a member of the planning committee last year.

New Westwood councilor Grace Lewis, from the ruling Labor group, also called for an appeal to be allowed. “Emergency should not be considered only in terms of costs,” she said. Cllr Lewis also referred to student blocks in the city not being fully occupied.

But council officers said student accommodation at Westwood Business Park was full and in high demand. They said there was a need to promote the growth of the university and the office blocks in the park were 22 per cent vacant.

Officers also told Cllr Akhtar, when he asked, that there was no conflict of interest. They said the decision was not about whether the scheme should get planning approval, but whether the council as owner should allow it, and added that he was there in the role of scrutiny chairman.

Labor councilor Jim O’Boyle, Cabinet Member for Jobs, Regeneration and Climate Change, made the decision. Cllr O’Boyle thanked the councilors who represented their residents but also said there were wider issues to consider.

His role involves looking at how the council can maximize the return for the taxpayer from the land it owns, he said. In the case of the business park, businesses “vote with their feet” and offices must meet modern standards.

“We get criticism as a local authority if our property portfolio doesn’t get the income that you would expect given (its) size,” he added. “It’s a difficult decision, but I think it’s the right one.”

The amount of additional rental income the council will get from the new use of the student block was not publicly disclosed and the meeting went into private session later to discuss it. But Cllr O’Boyle claimed it was “significant”.

He added: “Ultimately, I suppose the idea would be that if I don’t make that decision today, the developer will go away, that property will be empty, with no future prospects.” Speaking after the meeting, Cllr Lapsa said he was “very disappointed they didn’t allow an appeal”.

“Scrutiny is a very important part of the process,” he added. “Without a permissioned conversation, people don’t have all the data.”

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