OPPONENTS of a student village claim the scheme has been undermined after planning permission was granted for city centre student accommodation.
Cheshire West and Chester Council’s planning committee had rejected resubmitted plans for 85 student apartments at the former George Street School in Chester due to the impact of noise and disturbance on neighbours.
And Tory councillor Tom Parry referenced the council’s preference for a dedicated student village in opposing the George Street scheme when he told the committee: “The council resolved to facilitate a strategic plan for the development of student accommodation, particularly in Chester. I don’t believe to grant permission would support that aim but indeed would further the ‘pepper-potting’ effect of student accommodation.”
But inspector Anthony Wharton has now granted permission for the George Street Projects Ltd scheme on appeal because he didn’t consider the accommodation would ‘significantly alter the existing situation with regard to noise and disturbance’.
Andy Scargill, an opponent of the planned student village at Blacon, said: “We feel that, following on from the decision earlier this year to allow the university to build similar accommodation on their site, this now sets a precedent for how student accommodation should be tackled.”
A spokesman for Bell Developments, who are behind the 2,300-bed student village, said: “The George Street decision, which was for 92 units, makes only a very small contribution to meeting that need and does not in any way undermine the justification for the Chester Student Village proposal.”
