By Anna Whittaker, Local Democracy Reporter
A new strategy for student living in Nottingham aims to ensure that neighbourhoods are not “overpowered” by them.
The Student Living Strategy aims to improve the quality, safety, affordability and location of student accommodation in the city.
It marks the first time that Nottingham City Council, the University of Nottingham, and Nottingham Trent University have made a formal commitment to work together on their priorities for housing and local services.
“We collectively understand that whilst there are many benefits in having two world-class universities in the city, this can also create some issues”, the strategy document states.
Both universities add a combined £3.8billion to the UK economy every year and support around 14 per cent of the local economy, plus 25,000 jobs across the area.
And the number of students needing accommodation in Nottingham has grown by more than a quarter since 2016/17, from around 40,000 to 51,000.
Around 61,000 students attended both universities last year – and around 9,500 student beds will be created in Nottingham over the next three years in order to meet demand.
Many students move into private homes – in planning terms known as Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) – after their first year of studies, but this has led to a reduction in family homes available in Nottingham.
The new strategy includes a focus on building more purpose-built student accommodation buildings which are “more environmentally friendly, can reduce anti-social behaviour, have all-inclusive bills, act as a catalyst for other developments and create jobs”.
The plan will go out to public consultation from February 22 to March 22.
Cllr Toby Neal (Lab), the council’s portfolio holder for housing and HR, said the plan aims to “get more balance in communities so it isn’t dominated by student accommodation”.
It also encourages “neighbourliness” and hopes to increase community cohesion.
The universities have also made a joint commitment to invest around £1m into the prevention and enforcement of issues related to waste, noise and other problems this year.
Cllr Neal said: “People need to understand that students are an important part of life, as are the residents.
“There’s always a lot of focus on where purpose built student accomodation is being built.
“If you look at the context of why and where it’s being built, it’s actually part of our longer term strategy to support neighbourhoods.
“The specialist accommodation for students helps us towards the point where we don’t have neighbourhoods that are dominated by students.
“Neighbourhoods can’t be overpowered by one group of people.”
He emphasised that the council does not give “priority” to students – instead it is focusing on ensuring there is a balance in communities.
He added: “Part of the thinking behind this is to change some of the communities.
“There are certain areas in the city which have very high levels of HMOs. In itself, it isn’t a problem because they serve different uses.
“But discussions go on about whether there is an over-representation of certain groups, if students in a certain area dominate what goes on.
“This isn’t about getting rid of HMOs. It’s about the choices students make and making sure we don’t have monocultures in neighbourhoods.”
Michael Lees, Director of Campus Services for Nottingham Trent University, said there are some issues around the occupancy of HMOs.
He said: “I went to a property where there were nine students living in the house.
“The lounge had been converted and it simply wasn’t suitable for that many.
“I went to another where there were five students in there, plywood doors, plywood floors. They were living cheek by jowl with the local residents. That’s clearly just not right.”
Mr Lees said historically students have moved into HMOs in their second or third years.
Purpose-built student flats are often less affordable with average prices currently around 40 per cent higher than in shared HMOs.
However, according to a 2022 survey, purpose-built providers say 40 per cent of bed spaces are occupied by ‘returning’ students not in their first year of undergraduate study.
Mr Lees described the statistic as a “sea change”.
He said: “Gradually students are seeing the quality of the accommodation, study space and being in the city centre.”
Paul Seddon, Director of Planning and Transport with the city council, said: “The city and student housing market are intrinsically linked with each other.
“What we did recognise a few years ago was we needed to work together to avoid what we thought could be a crisis in terms of provision, demand and supply.
“We got ahead of the game.”
Stephen McAuliffe, Deputy Registrar at the University of Nottingham, added: “Students are residents too, they vote in elections and contribute to society.
“There is just a handle we can label them with and therefore it becomes easier to talk about them as a homogeneous group.
“That contribution to society is something we are looking to continue to develop.”
