Mayor weighs in on Paddington student block debate
By Noah Vickers, Local Democracy Reporter
Sir Sadiq Khan has intervened after Westminster City council refused to approve plans for a 20-storey student accommodation block on the canal opposite Paddington station.
In a letter to the Labour-run authority, the mayor has said that the scheme – which includes 605 student bed spaces – would make a “positive contribution towards London housing targets”.
He has informed the authority that City Hall will take control of the application and will host a public hearing at some point in the coming months to decide whether to overrule the council or allow its decision to stand.
Westminster’s strategic planning committee had voted to refuse the project by three votes to one at a meeting in January. Councillors opposed to the scheme argued that it would cause a “significant loss of daylight” and “sense of enclosure” for neighbouring residents, and would “harm the setting” of nearby Grade II listed buildings.
The scheme would see the demolition of the Travis Perkins builders’ merchants on Harrow Road. A new Travis Perkins branch would be created at ground level below the new student accommodation block, which would comprise two linked towers – though only one would reach the full 20-storey height.
The plan also incorporates an indoor community space with access onto a new canal side path, canal mooring improvements and a new public walkway under Bishops Bridge Road.
It is the latest high-rise student accommodation project to make its way through London’s planning pipeline, and comes after a similar scheme was granted permission in Southwark earlier this month. Major applications for high-rise student housing have also been submitted over recent weeks in Canary Wharf and in Vauxhall.
In his letter to the council, Sir Sadiq warned that “the non-delivery of 605 student bed spaces is considered to impact upon the implementation of the London Plan”, referring to City Hall’s blueprint for future development in the capital.
He added: “The support from a higher education provider with campuses in boroughs other than Westminster demonstrates the potential contribution of the proposed development to higher education providers across London.”
The London Plan estimates that the city needs at least 3,500 new student bed spaces to be created every year just in order to meet demand.
However, only 35 per cent of the bedrooms in the Paddington block are proposed to be offered at rents classed as ‘affordable’ – the minimum allowed under the London Plan.
A date has not yet been set for City Hall’s public hearing on the application.
Pictured top: CGI of the proposed student accommodation, seen from Bishops Bridge Road, including the proposed community space with access to the canal path (Picture: Make Architects on behalf of Unite Students and Travis Perkins Plc)
