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A new plan has been launched to ensure that certain parts of Glasgow do not become over-concentrated with student accommodation.
The blueprint, from Glasgow City Council, has a ‘guiding principle’ of no one area having limitless capacity to absorb student accommodation.
It comes following a public consultation between November 2020 and January 2021, which focused on the introduction of measures such as: a new locational criteria to assess a potential over-concentration of student accommodation in a particular area; student accommodation not being supported in two new areas (South Partick/Yorkhill and Cowcaddens/Townhead); updated design criteria; and mixed-tenure requirements for developments over a certain size.
The local authority said it considered some 500 comments resulting from the consultation, with the official guidance stating the reinforced importance of considering built heritage in the design process of student accommodation, and a mixed-tenure requirement in all sites over 0.3 hectares outwith the city centre and 0.2 hectares in the city centre.
Councillor Kenny McLean, city convener for neighbourhood, housing and public realm at Glasgow City Council, said, “The new planning guidance on student accommodation will stop over-concentration in certain areas of the city and improve quality of design. While student accommodation is key to attracting and supporting a key part of Glasgow’s social and economic life, this more balanced approach to future development and provision will benefit our student population and the wider city.”
