Proposals for a development of “co-living” blocks in the heart of student-dominated St James have been revised for further public consultation following local opposition to the scheme.
The original application, submitted in July last year, was for an interconnected complex of three, four and five-storey blocks containing 101 studio bedspaces on a 0.24 hectare (0.59 acre) site in Victoria Street.
In January this year the council told the applicant, Shopland Gray Developments, that it was “unlikely to support the proposed scheme due to a number of concerns relating to its design and its likely impacts on adjacent residential properties”.
It said the scale of the scheme was “out of harmony with the two to three storey residential character of the area” and that it would have an “overbearing impact on rear gardens belonging to Prospect Park”.
It added that the proposed raised external walkways would lead to loss of privacy at the rear of houses in Culverland Street and that houses in Victoria street would be similarly affected due to “overdevelopment” and “overbearing presence and harm”.
Victoria Street co-living revised scheme illustrative view
The revised proposals provide 89 studio bedspaces, reducing the density of the development from 420 to 370 dwellings per hectare. This would still be nearly five times the residential density recommended in the density study which forms part of the new Exeter local plan evidence base.
The heights of the central and northern blocks of the complex would be reduced, but the infill blocks on the east side of the scheme beside the railway line would be increased to create a complex including some two-storey as well as three, four and five-storey blocks.
The previously-proposed raised external walkways would be replaced with internal corridors and some windows would be reoriented to reduce the extent to which neighbouring houses in Victoria Street would be overlooked.
Two storeys have been removed from a small section of the northern blocks which back onto the gardens of houses in Prospect Park, but the overall height of that face of the development is otherwise unchanged. The five-storey block anchoring the north-eastern corner of the development would be retained.
The developer says that the removal of the trees along the northern boundary of the site entailed by the development would benefit Prospect Park residents as the amount of sunlight “would actually increase as a result of the scheme”.
Victoria Street co-living original scheme illustrative view
The developer claims that the “site is of limited value overall” and that “the scheme would have no significant impact on ecology”. It also says that the “intention is to maintain much of the existing vegetation along the northern and eastern boundaries”. As the drawings make clear, it will all be cut down inside the site boundary.
It describes the development site as “redundant brownfield”, saying that the repair garage over which the central block would be built needs further investigation to determine whether it presents contamination risks. It appears this investigation has yet to take place.
It also says that both south and north blocks would be “located on a brownfield area” despite their intended position on the gardens at the front and rear of Wisteria House, a period villa that occupies most of the site.
It adds that there is “a strong imperative within both the adopted and emerging development plan to optimising [sic] the use of brownfield sites in sustainable locations – such as is proposed in this instance – to bring forward new forms of housing such as co-living”.
Were this true it would imply that any Exeter residential property with a garden, a garage and a driveway would be ripe for demolition and replacement with high-density build to rent blocks.
Victoria Street co-living complex development site
The revised proposals for the Victoria Street redevelopment also repeat the claim that it would answer “the need for more co-living in the city”.
City council development director Ian Collinson said that there was evidence that demonstrated a need for co-living development in Exeter at the council planning committee meeting that approved co-living redevelopments at Summerland Street and Exeland House in January.
We have been unable to find any such evidence, either in the new Exeter Local Plan evidence base or elsewhere, and the council’s own Community Infrastructure Levy review last year confirmed that there is no viability evidence for co-living in Exeter.
When we asked the council to clarify to what Ian Collinson had been referring, we were told: “There is plenty of interest from developers as evidenced by a spate of planning applications over recent months.”
Only one co-living development has so far been built in Exeter, The Gorge. It sits largely empty more than six months after completion, apparently because it didn’t open in time for the beginning of term at St Luke’s campus on the other side of the road.
Meanwhile work has not begun at Harlequins shopping centre, the first consented co-living redevelopment in Exeter, more than three years after planning permission was granted and the huge hybrid, half co-living, half student accommodation scheme proposed on the Heavitree Road police station site was dismissed at appeal in February.
As things stand, the co-living business model remains unproven in Exeter and looks likely to stay that way for a long time to come.
Comments on the revised Victoria Street co-living complex proposals can be submitted until Sunday 5 May via the city council website where the planning application can be viewed in full.
