New student housing ban possible
City officers have been asked to explore options for a ban on controversial purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) projects, and present them to the city's Planning Committee in September for a decision.
A majority of councillors backed the motion calling for a ban to be explored, which was proposed by SNP councillor Danny Aston. But 10 opposed it, with one saying a ban would be 'premature'.
At the meeting, Cllr Aston said: 'It seems to me that developers aren't taking the changing circumstances into account.
'My concern is that if the council doesn't step in as the state body responsible as the planning authority to rein in the market here, our city may be left disfigured by white elephant PBSA developments that no-one wants.'
PBSA projects often draw significant protest from the communities they are built in. One recent development in Jock's Lodge, which went on to be approved, drew over 1,000 public objections.
Opponents say that PBSA projects add strain to, and harm the character of, local communities, as well as taking up development space for housing for the wider public.
Additionally, the rents in the developments are often higher than students can find on the private residential market, with rooms in shared flats within Edinburgh PBSA developments often starting at £800 or £900 per month.
But PBSA developments are rarely pushed back by councillors. They are usually compliant with planning regulations, which means there is often no legitimate reason for them to be rejected.
Glasgow City Council had its own moratorium on PBSA developments between 2019 and 2021, with new projects still effectively banned in parts of the city by planning regulations.
Conservative councillor Joanna Mowat filed an amendment that said a ban should not be implemented now.
Instead, it says that any decision on restricting student housing should be made as a part of creating the city's new Local Development Plan, which must be implemented by May 2026.
She told the council on Thursday: 'The main point of this is that we are going through a process to look at student housing, examining those numbers. And I think that whilst that is being undertaken, it's premature to ask for a moratorium.'
'The reality is we are supposed to have this information later this year, and I think asking planners to do another report into this, at this point, when they're undertaking that work for the new Local Development Plan is overburdening them.
'I think the points Cllr Aston makes are good ones, but I just want to try and get what we need to do done rather than having extraneous reports that I think will be difficult to accomplish.'
Councillors voted for Cllr Aston's motion over Cllr Mowat's amendment by 46 to 10, with the Conservative group voting against the motion.
By Joseph Sullivan Local Democracy Reporter
Like this:
Like
Related
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The National
3 hours ago
- The National
SNP councillor hits back at 'lie' he defected to Reform UK
Alexander McLellan was listed as a member of Nigel Farage's party on the local authority's website. It has now been changed back to list the Tillydrone, Seaton and Old Aberdeen representative as a member of the SNP. The glitch emerged after Luis Cook, a right-wing influencer, posted on Twitter/X that McLellan was the 'first (direct) defection from the SNP to Reform'. Cook's post has since been deleted. READ MORE: Police Scotland 'breaching human rights to subdue Palestine protests' McLellan was quick to hit back at the claims as a 'lie' and told the Herald the issue had been 'reported to senior officials and is being investigated'. On Twitter/X, McLellan wrote: 'These people are so desperate for attention that they will fabricate nonsense about whatever, and whomever, they can. 'The problem they have is that defamation laws exist in the UK for a reason, and if this post isn't taken down then they will likely find that out.' Reform UK Scotland also responded to the post, writing: 'Absolute nonsense. We have never spoken with this councillor and have zero knowledge of his wish to defect.' So far, 13 councillors in Scotland have defected to Reform – the overwhelming majority from the Scottish Conservatives. Jamie McGuire became the first councillor to defect from Scottish Labour to Farage's party in June. He serves the Renfrew North and Braehead ward on Renfrewshire council. McGuire announced the move during Farage's visit to Scotland ahead of the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election, where the Reform UK leader hid from the Scottish press and faced protests outside of the party's local campaign offices. In April, Reform claimed that their membership numbers in Scotland had passed 10,000 people, making them the country's third largest party. Polling published in May suggested Farage's party could overtake Scottish Labour at the Holyrood 2026 election, suggesting they could return 19% of the vote on the constituency ballot and 20% on the regional list.
The National
3 hours ago
- The National
Rachel Reeves failed to raise Grangemouth with refinery owner
In a response to an FOI submitted by the SNP, UK Government officials admitted that the Chancellor met with the Grangemouth chief in the same month Scotland's only oil refinery stopped processing crude oil but she did not raise the imminent closure. The UK Government response stated: 'We have identified that a meeting did take place in April 2025 at which the Chancellor and Sir Jim Ratcliffe were present. We can also confirm that the threatened closure of the Grangemouth refinery was not discussed at that meeting". Owner Petroineos announced last year the refinery would be turning into an import terminal, leaving Scotland without its own refinery and posing one of the first major tests of both the UK and Scottish governments in their push for a just transition away from oil and gas. READ MORE: Almost 2000 pubs across the UK stop selling BrewDog beer Repeated attempts to halt the closure ultimately failed, with the loss of around 100 jobs, though plans for future use of the site have been put in motion as both governments seek external investment. The Labour Government went on to ensure the future of the Prax oil refinery in England in June. Given the readily nationalised Scunthorpe Steel, the £100bn spend on English nuclear power plants and the saved refinery in Lincolnshire, the SNP have said this secret meeting 'tells Scots all they need to know about Westminster and where Scotland lies in its priorities.' SNP energy spokesperson, Graham Leadbitter MP said: 'This is a damning revelation. Scots will be disgusted to learn that just days before the Grangemouth doors slammed shut Rachel Reeves held a meeting with the owner, Sir Jim Ratcliffe [below], yet didn't even bother to mention the refinery in her meeting. 'The UK Government only conceded the information after significant pressure which speaks volumes about how desperate they were to keep this under wraps. That's because the truth is that never mind being an afterthought, the fact the Labour Government didn't even think it worthwhile to bring up such a critical issue to Scottish jobs shows Scotland doesn't even register as a thought at all. 'A steel plant in Scunthorpe was nationalised, a refinery in Lincolnshire was bailed out and £100bn is found for English nuclear power plants, yet when it came to a Scottish refinery the UK Labour Government didn't lift a finger to keep it in operation – that tells Scots all they need to know about Westminster and where Scotland lies in its priorities. 'It is this disregard for Scottish industry that leaves a growing number of Scots to wonder just how long we stay tied to this so-called Union of Equals because only with Independence can we prioritise Scottish jobs, Scottish growth and Scotland's people.' READ MORE: For Women Scotland launches legal action against Scottish ministers on gender policy The SNP also accused the UK Government of trying "to evade giving detail of the meeting," with the original request submitted in June. "Your request to extend the deadline until 11th of September 2025 would exceed this by a substantial margin, reaching a potential maximum of 64 working days from the date the initial request was received," the SNP Westminster team stated. They added: "Please be advised that I will now be raising this with the Information Commissioner".
The Guardian
5 hours ago
- The Guardian
Dining across the divide: ‘It was like a communist interrogation'
Occupation Data engineer Voting record Usually Conservative, but didn't vote in the last two elections – 'The parties seem broadly the same. Nobody really stands by the manifesto' Amuse bouche This isn't Michael's first career – he started his working life as a history teacher Occupation Mainly a student, but works on social media and campaigns for the Workers party Voting record The Workers party; has also voted Green Amuse bouche Sophia can recite the full lyrics to Billy Joel's We Didn't Start the Fire. Can also sing it, but only when she's been drinking Michael She was covered in a bunch of communist pins; it came off as a little bit of an intentional caricature. My first impression was: younger than I thought and wearing her politics on her sleeve, literally. Sophia I was expecting someone more rightwing, more Reform-like, but I found him pretty interesting, in regard to his abstinence from voting and his lack of interest in any of the key parties. Michael I ate some salt and pepper squid and a cod loin. Sophia I had the sourdough margherita pizza and a couple of glasses of rather nice Romanian red wine. Michael Governments' first duty of care is to their own citizens, which means migration needs to serve the interests of the people already here. Relatively unchecked mass migration doesn't seem to do that. Being someone who went through all the legal hoops – moving to the UK from Canada – the idea that I could have simply lost my passport, shown up and not had to wait in line for anything, that's not ideal. Not being able to do anything about foreign people who take advantage of the UK's astonishing generosity isn't great. Sophia He was essentially saying, 'We need growth but how are migrants going to generate that?' He felt that it would be detrimental to the migrants' own countries, in that they'd be losing their own assets. But they're leaving because they aren't seen as assets. They're leaving because of corruption, poverty, different human rights. It's not as simple as he thinks: migrants don't necessarily have a choice. Michael The situation we're in serves large corporations and keeps everyone addicted to low-wage labour. It makes our GDP look good, but it's reducing our standard of living, and that includes the people we're importing. If we want to help the whole world thrive, are we doing anyone else any favours by saying to other countries, 'Yes, we'll have all your doctors and nurses, thanks'?Sophia He looked at everything from his individual perspective as an economic agent. I think he lacked empathy, and I said that to him. He responded that I was being overly idealistic – but he was being idealistic as well, in terms of his own capital interests and what served them. If I had a penny for every time he called me idealistic, I could repair the economic conditions he's so worried about. Michael She was very keen to talk about Gaza. I don't think either side is very nice in this case. I don't have a strong opinion, except that it is atrocious. Sophia I don't see it as a war. I see it as unjustifiable violence for nationalist aims. Having a two-state solution is completely wrong, because it's only rewarding Israel for what it's done. It should be one democratically run state. Michael Everybody should have the right to be left alone. When we start having laws around misgendering, I think: look, I prefer people to be polite, but people are allowed to be impolite, and making special rules based on someone's whim is weird. Sophia I'm a gender abolitionist. He doesn't like jargon, whereas I quite like that people use labels, because that makes it feel more real, as opposed to people thinking they're abnormal. Michael I tried to be polite and stay for the duration, while she was eating. Looking back, I berate myself for not walking away sooner. It was the most communist interrogation a guy can have without ending up with bamboo shoots under his nails. Sophia It wasn't that the conversation dried up or that we hated each other; we just said goodbye. I think it was on good terms. I was probably not the sort of person he'd choose to interact with. Additional reporting: Kitty Drake Michael and Sophia ate at Riding House, London WC1 Want to meet someone from across the divide? Find out how to take part
