Steve McCabe MP has discovered that Selly Oak is set to have more student accommodation than family homes over the next year.
Steve recently pressed the Council on the current level of student accommodation in SellyOak and approved developments that are due to be built within the next year.
The figures revealed that there are currently 6,439 purpose built student flats currently in Selly Oak including university halls, a further 400 student flats at the Vale are under construction. Over 1,000 student flats have been approved within the last year, including Beechenhurst House, a development which many local residents objected to. These figures do not include HMOs in Selly Oak, in which many students live. Once the recently approved flats currently under construction are built there will be a total of 7651 student flats in SellyOak.
Based on these figures, at the current rate of building there will be more student accommodation in Selly Oak than any other type of property within the next year. Currently there are 8569 properties in Selly Oak according to the latest Census statistics. There are outstanding applications for three more student developments in Selly Oak which if approved would see a further 457 more flats built. This means that the Council would only need to approve a further 462 student flats for Selly Oak to have more student accommodation than family homes which at the current rate of building isn’t far off.
Steve has repeatedly made the point to the Council that there is already a surplus of student accommodation in Selly Oak and the University of Birmingham confirmed that there is enough student accommodation to cater for their student population.
Steve McCabe MP said:
“For the past few years I have warned the Council that there is no need to continue approving student developments when there is no real evidence that there is a demand for this. Based on the current rate of approved student accommodation developments there will be more student flats than family homes over the next year.
“We are already in a situation where there is more supply than demand. The fact that student developments put forward by greedy developers are continually approved strikes me as totally illogical. Many of my constituents are rightly worried that Selly Oak is at risk of becoming an extension of the University’s campus if any more developments are given the green light which is why I will continue to oppose any further student developments here in Selly Oak.”
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