New Regulations On The Cards For Student Accommodation In Cork
Wheels have been set in motion to regulate student housing in Cork City.
With calls to regulate suburban student housing in the city in an effort to ward off overdevelopment, the aim is to put student housing pressure zones in place and pinpoint sites with capacity in order to curb the development of student housing schemes down the line.
According to The Irish Examiner, there has been a significant rise in planning applications which led to pleas from city councillors for restriction on "purpose-built student accommodation."
There are around 40,000 students in Cork city and now the plans are in motion for some 2,666 bed spaces, mostly focusing on areas near CIT and UCC.
Fine Gael Cllr John Buttimer also told The Irish Examiner that overdevelopment is “choking and suffocating traditional residential communities."
Mr. Buttimer also said that it was important CIT and UCC were involved in plans: "We are not anti-student accommodation but we need a reasonable, planned, strategic and systemic approach to the development of such projects. It’s developer-led and piecemeal at the moment.”
Planning officials have said that a 'strategy is needed to new-built student housing' and "this approach will anticipate the potential impacts of such development and help identify the best appropriate locations.”
The plan is to:
- Collect data on student numbers in each College
- Identify the pressure areas in student-occupied accommodation
- Look at how Cork can unlock sites through infrastructure projects
- Research planning policies in student cities in Ireland and the UK
- Work with relevant stakeholders involved in the delivery and management of student accommodation