Plans to Approve the Durham PBSA Scheme

A huge student accommodation project in Durham is about to be accepted. This new student accommodation will be able to host over 800 students, which is going to facilitate the process of studying abroad for students. 

Banks Group is supervising the project's development, as it will occupy over 7.8 acres of a site to the north of Mount Oswald on South Road. Despite the project's initial approval in 2018, it needs to be re-accepted because it failed to meet the time limit for implementation. 

After not meeting the time limit and not completing the project, a developer noticed the need for Durham student accommodation even more. After the pandemic, especially last year, students had to camp out to ensure they could secure accommodation for themselves. 

Mount Oswald, the masterplan, is where this project and its development take part. It was originally given outline permission in 2013. This permission was granted for mixed-use, which features 291 dwellings. 

This plan has evolved a lot since then, and it freed the application site for further student accommodation options. 

A statement in the application stated: "We believe there are no better alternative sites in Durham for this development because of constraints such as Green Belt, flood risk and the protection of the World Heritage Site. We believe now is the right time to resurrect the scheme to bring forward more carefully designed and managed accommodation for the city's students." 

Despite the withheld information for the project, it is believed that the accommodation will contain apartments ranging between five to ten bedrooms for students to choose from according to their needs, budgets, and preferences. There is also a limited number of studio apartments and townhouses. 

This development costs around £60m, and a yearly expenditure of £4m in the local area. The phase of construction itself is supposed to offer 200 employment options and indirect employment. That is all according to a planning statement.

The proposal will be offered to the Durham County Planning Committee on Tuesday, May 2nd. This will be with a recommendation of approval, that is, after taking all the factors into consideration.