Part of an important business park in Westwood Heath is to be redeveloped for more student accommodation for Warwick University.
The Mercia Business Village in Torwood Close is to be demolished to make way for a 1,006-bed ‘student village’,
Existing units will be demolished and replaced with four residential blocks to be known as Mercia Student Village. It would be an extension of the University of Warwick campus.
The proposal is set to be recommended to be approved at a city council planning meeting. The agenda said: “The application as submitted seeks consent for the demolition of the existing business units which comprise 22 modestly proportioned two storey Class E units, a number of which are vacant and have experienced high vacancy rates in recent years.”
It said the business park had undergone major changes -with many businesses moving out. “Westwood Business Park has been subject to significant changes in recent years, with the vacating of what were primarily two to three-storey office headquarters which have had difficulties with occupation levels,” the application said.
“These have been subject to re-development, primarily to purpose-built student accommodation given the proximity to the main University of Warwick Campus. As a result of the re-developments there has also been significant improvements delivered and planned for cycle and pedestrian infrastructure within the area in which the schemes have contributed to.”
But there were 11 objections to the plans. Complaints ranged from an ‘over-concentration of students’ to a lack of demand for student accommodation.
Also, a lack of infrastructure within the area, the impact on the highway network and highway safety, as well as the loss of employment land.
The council report acknowledged there has been a ‘significant increase’ in the delivery of purpose-built student accommodation in recent years. Between 2019 and the beginning of the 23/24 academic year 9,716 new bedrooms were delivered within the city.
The council said it had commissioned a study into the commissioned as to whether there was an oversupply of accommodation and to provide further insights into the market, identifying future supply and demand levels and locational requirement.
The council report said: “While it would perhaps be appealing for the city council to look to rule out future purpose-built student accommodation applications, this could potentially be damaging to the attractiveness of Coventry as a student destination over the longer term and would stifle innovation’.
“In addition, the report also noted wider national policy decisions relating to Higher Education has the potential to impact the market, as do trends in student decision making. It is therefore prudent that future policy should allow for a degree of flexibility to adapt to market conditions.
“In this case, the applicants have provided a report on student demand which considers the needs of the University of Warwick going forwards, and whilst again noting the market conditions across the wider city, the data and evidence provided does indicate there is scope for additional demand close to the University of Warwick. Taking the above into account the assessment is accepted.”
The final decision on the application will be made by planning committee members at a meeting on July 31.
Coventry Society objected to this application on two grounds:
- Loss of employment land
- Lack of demand for purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA).
In relation to employment land, the Council’s draft update of the local plan acknowledges that there is insufficient employment land in the city. It believes that this gap could be filled through sites being allocated by adjoining councils in their local plans. But there are no indications that this is happening. Furthermore, the West Midlands Combined Authority recently published its local growth plan. This emphasises the importance of having sufficient employment land.
The supporting statement for PBSA points out that Mercia Business Village is no longer fit for purpose. We do not dispute this point, but the site could be redeveloped for office and business use that meets current requirements.
On the issue of PBSA, the Council commissioned an independent study in 2023/24. This found that there was a surplus of spaces especially in the city centre. But it also argued that there was a case for a modest increase around Warwick University as it is a separate market.
But the same report notes that the managers of schemes in the city centre are offering incentives (such as free travel passes) to Warwick University students. Furthermore, in our discussions with Warwick University in 2024, they suggested that students may prefer a city centre location and some prefer an HMO to PBSA.
Finally, if a modest PBSA increase is required, there are plenty of sites on the campus. So, there is no need for the redevelopment of sites on Westwood Business Park.