Edinburgh council officers are exploring the practicality of a ban on purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) in the city, ahead of a meeting later this year. City officers have been asked to explore plans for a ban on PBSA projects and present them to the Planning Committee on 10 September for a decision.
Over 20,000 beds exist in private student halls in Edinburgh, and new projects are regularly being approved. A majority of councillors backed the motion calling for a ban to be explored, which was proposed by SNP councillor Danny Aston.
“It seems to me that developers aren’t taking the changing circumstances into account.
“My concern is that if the council doesn’t step in as the state body responsible as the planning authority to rein in the market here, our city may be left disfigured by white elephant PBSA developments that no-one wants.”
Danny Aston, Edinburgh Councillor, SNP
Opponents say that PBSA projects add strain to, and harm the character of, local communities, as well as taking up development space for other housing types.
However, PBSA developments are usually compliant with planning regulations, which means there is often no legitimate reason for them to be rejected by Council figures.
Conservative councillor Joanna Mowat filed an amendment that said a ban should not be implemented now. Instead, she proposed that any decision on restricting PBSA should be made as part of creating the city’s new Local Development Plan.
“The main point of this is that we are going through a process to look at student housing, examining those numbers – and I think that whilst that is being undertaken; so it’s premature to ask for a moratorium.”
“The reality is we are supposed to have this information later this year, and I think asking planners to do another report into this, at this point, when they’re undertaking that work for the new Local Development Plan is overburdening them.
“I think the points councillor Aston makes are good ones, but I just want to try and get what we need to do done rather than having extraneous reports that I think will be difficult to accomplish.”
Joanna Mowat, Edinburgh Councillor, Conservatives
Councillors voted for Danny’s motion over Joanna’s amendment by 46 to 10, with the Conservative group voting against the motion.
