Chester MP Chris Matheson hopes to present a residents’ petition to Parliament over concerns about ‘inappropriate’ student housing schemes in place of homes for families and the elderly.

Mr Matheson has ‘sympathy’ with petition organisers Chester Community Voice UK but doesn’t agree on every point and opposes their call for a student village in the green belt.

CCV UK supporters met up with Mr Matheson at his new office in Castle Street, Chester, when they handed over the proposed wording before names are gathered.

The petition comes at a time when there is growing concern about the number of student accommodation complexes coming forward across the city to serve the expanding University of Chester.

An extract reads: “The petition of residents of Chester; declares that student accommodation has been and continues to be permitted at inappropriate locations to house increasing numbers of students in the City of Chester; further that this has adversely affected residential areas and the local community.”

Handbridge resident Reg Barritt, of CCV UK, told Mr Matheson at the meeting: “We’ve lost 800 units that were targeted for the city. Now how can that be when they want to bring the elderly into the city, over 65s, that’s me next year! There’s going to be a 60% growth in the over 65s in Warrington and West Cheshire by 2030. But who wants to live on an extended university campus?

“And it’s counter to the past motion of 2011 when they [Cheshire West and Chester Council] said they would have a student village solution.”

Resident Geoff Taylor, of Cambrian View, Chester, told the meeting: “I’m just appalled that in barely 200 acres we’re being saturated now with developers who want to make a quick buck. In terms of nuisance, two weeks ago, my daughter went to Sarl Williams Court, looking for accommodation for her in-laws, the manageress said: ‘Are they deaf?’. We said ‘What do you mean, deaf?’ She said: ‘Well, on student night it’s very very noisy and there’s disturbance. I’m not trying to knock students. I work a lot with students but we have just reached this saturation and we’re desperate.”

Attacks by students

Fellow resident Chas Warwood, of Water Tower Street, said a student who attacked him was given a £200 fine and told to move, but not far away, and he then suffered a campaign which included excrement and a fish being shoved through his letter box. A police officer eventually resolved the situation.

A female resident recalled ringing the police on 101 because of the disturbance caused by 20 students waiting for taxis outside in the street but the switch board operator was not interested.

Mr Matheson told campaigners: “There is without doubt an economic benefit to the city. But there has to be an understanding in my view that the university has a responsibility for its students.

“If an employer set up now in this city and all of a sudden its employees were going out getting hammered every night, vomiting and so on, that would have a reputational damage on the employer. And we would talk about, ‘Oh look, they’ve brought 50 jobs to the constituency but 20 of them every Friday night are causing havoc’.

“So it cuts both ways. There needs to be a much firmer community relations component to their management.”

Parliamentary debate

Mr Matheson is ‘quite excited’ pursuing his first petition as MP but must persuade the Backbench Business Committee the subject is important enough to justify a debate. The MP felt it would help the cause if it could established the issue of studentification was affecting towns and cities across the country.

Mr Matheson stressed: “A debate in parliament isn’t going to change the law. But it means ministers have to reply.”

The MP believes there has to be ‘a balancing act’ that takes into account the needs of the traditional community.

“I’m opposed to building on the greenbelt, which means you have to build in the towns, but every available bit of land in town at the moment seems to be being snapped largely by private speculative developers who stand to make a fair bit of cash on student accommodation.

“It means that places like the Linenhall site, for example, should be used for family accommodation. There’s no where for families to go.”

A Cheshire West and Chester Council spokeswoman said in response to the petition: “The authority deals with all planning applications in accordance with the prevailing policies.”

A University of Chester spokesperson commented: “The university is aware of several proposals by private developers. As is well-documented, the university maintains a strictly neutral approach with regard to expressing a particular view concerning any such proposals.”

Have you signed the petition? What do you think about the issue? Let us know in the comments below