Student village with nearly 2,000 beds planned in Cornwall

Detailed plans have been revealed for a student village in Cornwall which will provide beds for more than 1,800 students.

The Penvose Student Village in Penryn already has outline planning permission but a reserved matters application has now been submitted which includes the layout and design of the development.

Falmouth Town Council’s planning committee has supported the application in principle but has made a number of recommendations to the developers around cycle routes, charging points for electric bicycles and hedgerows.

As well as 1,858 student bed spaces the village will also have a hotel, shops, business units, sports facilities, GP surgery, nursery, a student hub and a pub/restaurant.

The site is currently made up of eight fields and lies next to the A39 providing access to Penryn and Falmouth.

In a design and access statement submitted with the application the developers say it will be a “zero carbon development which directly responds to the climate emergency”.

The village has been divided into areas with student accommodation in one part, the commercial area, the sports facilities and parking facilities.

Sports facilities planned for the site include three outdoor tennis courts, an all-weather sports pitch and three indoor squash courts. The main building also has a reception area and changing facilities.

The student accommodation will be in three to four storey blocks grouped around planted courtyards. The blocks will range from nine to 62 beds per unit.

There have been 10 comments placed on the council’s planning portal about the application with nine in objection.

Sophia Cracknell said she wanted to “strongly object to the ridiculous development proposal” for the student village. She added: “I do not believe there is any demonstrable need for this development.”

She explained: “The university do not appear to either support or show a need for this development and are consistently aiming to house students onsite. There is also a huge reduction in the number of students accessing learning onsite due to the global pandemic, with the vast majority of learning occurring online and remotely. It is clear that this is a development for final profit only and will be repurposed as soon as agreed to increase this gain.”

Many of the other objections raised concerns about traffic from the development and that it would be using a greenfield site.

There is no indication when Cornwall Council will make a final decision on the reserved matters application.

Credit: Richard Whitehouse, Local Democracy Reporter