Stop The Giant Development in The Park

Plans for a huge student block to be developed at the bottom of The Park are being opposed by residents, with the help of the local Lib Dem Focus Team.

The block, which would stretch from Fishpond Drive down to Castle Boulevard, would house nearly 150 students and will be a four storey building, leaving residents with less light. The proposal unrealistically assumes that no tenant of the site will own a car!

Local residents have already organised a public meeting and, with the help of Lib Dem campaigner Lloydie James Lloyd, put together a list of objections the council could legitimately use to challenge a planning application of this sort.

Lloydie said: “The work Shehnila and Mike have done in researching and getting signatures is amazing. There are already well over 100 objections to this proposed development which is a fantastic show of community strength. However, the more objections, the harder it is for the council to ignore us.

“With student enrolments declining and other units already struggling to get filled, I fail to see the need for such a disruptive piece of planning to be given the green light.”

You can object by going to the city council website here and searching for planning application ref: 25/00065/PFUL3 or send objections to planningcomments@nottinghamcity.gov.uk

Here is a list of objections you can raise, that can be considered by the planning committee:

Light:
This building would cause a significant reduction of light for those opposite it on Fishpond Drive. The assessment acknowledges that several habitable room windows within Maria Court fail to meet the required Vertical Sky Component (VSC) and Daylight Distribution (DD) thresholds. Whereas, at night, there would be a significant increase in light pollution from the windows, in an area that currently has gas street lighting.

Noise and Traffic:
The use of outdoor space for use by the student occupants would create significant increase in noise during term times. The proposal unrealistically assumes that no tenant of the site will own a car and that visitors will strictly stick to a voluntary time slot system for parking at the site entrance, and will not stay more than a few minutes at a time.

Need:
Student enrolments have been down for the past couple of years. This development of 141 dwellings comes at a time when more students are choosing to live at home and when there are already similar developments struggling to fill to capacity. The City Council leader Neghat Khan has recently said there should be "no more student accommodation around the city centre".

Character:
Castle Boulevard currently has a mix of residential, commercial and industrial functions. Acceptance of the plan sets a precedent and risks the creation of a monoculture of PBSA’s. This would be out of character with this area.

Subsidence:
The site is underlain by Chester Formation sandstone, a material that is known to be prone to subsidence. There have been incidents of subsidence on nearby developments Boulevard Wharf and Park Rock – resulting in damage to neighbouring properties. No subsidence risk assessment, vibration monitoring or geotechnical safeguards have been presented.

Conversion:
The council’s own policy (HO6 in the Local Plan) says a consideration in the planning process is: “whether new purpose built student accommodation is designed in such a way that it can be capable of being re-configured through internal alterations to meet general housing needs in the future”. Such a large block is unlikely to be easily converted and could easily become a white elephant on the boundaries of two conservation areas.

Impact on Biodiversity:
This development will have a profoundly negative impact on the wildlife and will drive away the bats and owls from their habitats.