THE number of student lets in two areas of York has more than trebled in just over a decade, new figures have revealed.

Council statistics show the number of student properties in the Hull Road area soared from 203 in May 2000 to 681 in May this year, while Osbaldwick parish saw an increase from 16 to 52.

The figures, obtained by Osbaldwick councillor Mark Warters, are fuelling demands for new planning controls on the growth of student lets.

Osbaldwick Parish Council has written to City of York Council to support proposals for a city-wide “article 4” direction, which would require landlords to apply for planning permission if they want to convert a property into a house of multiple occupation (HMO) for between three and five people.

Parish clerk Brian Lakeman said it would also support immediate implementation of article 4 in Osbaldwick and Hull Road ward, where he claimed news of the proposals had already led to an increased level of property conversion.

The University of York has claimed article 4 would not be in the interests of its students and could hinder efforts to recruit them.

But Mr Lakeman claimed: “It is not in the interests of local residents, many of whom prefer to live in, and be part of, a quiet residential area, for the unregulated spread of student HMOs to create a de facto suburban campus.”

He said the parish council and its residents had never been consulted about the spread, and he argued that if the university wished to continue attracting students, it should provide a “meaningful”

level of on-campus accommodation.

The Press reported last year how the total number of student households across the city had risen from 1,869 ten years previously to 2,375 in 2009. Because such households were exempt from council tax, York had lost £2.7 million in the tax the previous year, although the authority was compensated through Government grants.

A spokesman for the University of York said: “In the last five years alone, the number of on-campus bed spaces the university provides has increased by about 1,000, more than 37 per cent. We have also spent £5 million refurbishing our existing student accommodation. We now offer accommodation for 4,500 students on campus with a further 620 spaces under construction and due to open in 2012.

“We cannot impel students to live on campus and many prefer to live in, and be part of, the local community during their time at York. We appreciate the concerns expressed by some local residents and are working to address them.”

York Press: The Press - Comment

Spread student houses around

NOT all students are the same. Some are party animals. Others are quiet, sensible young people.

Whether quiet or loud by nature, however, one thing tends to mark out a student house in a residential neighbourhood: it is often the one with an unkempt garden and unmown lawn.

People living in areas of York close to the universities have long grumbled about the number of houses being turned into student lets. They complain their neighbourhoods are becoming virtual student ghettos. City council statistics reveal they may have a point.

Since 2000, the number of student properties in the Hull Road area has more than tripled, from 203 to 681. There was a similar pattern in Osbaldwick, which saw an increase from 16 to 51. Now Osbaldwick Parish Council has called for a limit on the number of student lets in any one area. That probably makes sense.

Students are hugely important to York: they are some of our best and brightest young people. But it would be better if they were spread out more around the city, rather than being concentrated in a few areas. Not least, they themselves could feel part of the community.

Landlords could also do more, by ensuring gardens were tended, and houses kept clean and tidy. That way, local people would have no reason to consider students anything but good neighbours.

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