By Jason Lewis, Local Democracy Reporter
Developers have agreed to make changes to a major student accommodation scheme in Portswood by increasing commercial space in an attempt to secure planning permission.
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The proposals for the Portswood Centre site involve the demolition of the existing retail building and replacing it with two blocks providing more than 500 student beds and commercial floorspace.
The application previously went before members of the city council’s planning and rights of way panel last month where concerns were raised about the significant reduction in retail space.
Councillors deferred their decision and asked officers to hold talks with the applicants about increasing the size of the ground floor commercial areas.
Student accommodation provider Fusion Group and real estate investment firm Tri7, who have brought forward the scheme as a joint venture, subsequently made amendments to their plans.
The commercial floorspace has increased by 38 per cent to 831 square metres, with the loss of eight student bed spaces, dropping the total from 515 to 507 beds.
The existing Portswood Centre provides 2,630 square metres of floorspace.
The application for the Portswood Road site is due to go back before the planning and rights of way panel on Tuesday, December 16, with officers recommending approval.
An officer report to the panel meeting said the redevelopment was compliant with district centre policy by re-providing active ground floor commercial frontage as part of a residential-led mixed use scheme.
It added: “Additional student housing is supported in locations where there is good support systems and transport links, which is the case in Portswood District Centre.
“The development potentially reduces demand for additional student accommodation in less suitable areas of the city and assist in reducing demand for HMOs, thereby potentially freeing up family housing.”
At last month’s panel meeting, objections were raised by Portswood Residents Gardens Conservation Area, Outer Avenue Residents’ Association, City of Southampton City and Portswood ward councillors.
Julian Evans, development director of Fusion Group, said the scheme’s vision was to regenerate the centre to provide a “modern, attractive” retail space, “significantly enhance” the public realm and deliver “vital” new homes.
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