Student housing challenge to be discussed by Bath councillors
There will be an extra 9,200 university students in Bath by 2020 and the city’s politicians have decisions to make as to how they will all be housed.
Numbers present enough of a challenge for Bath and North East Somerset Council.
The local authority has a draft document called a Placemaking Plan which will set out detailed policies for developments around Bath and North East Somerset which will help determine a student housing plan of action.
A council document says there is an increasing demand for student accommodation which has become one of the key issues currently affecting Bath.
Bath has the highest amount of full time students after Oxford University but with more houses of multiple occupation (HMO) rented to students.
The University of Bath plans to grow from teaching 14,000 registered students (2011/12 data) to around 19,300 in 2020/21, which equates to needing 15,000 bed spaces, up from 10,300 ….