Brent Council is proposing a pause on all new purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA), particularly in Wembley, due to fears it will inhibit its plan to address local housing shortages and no longer provide a balanced and mixed community.
The development of new residential housing has drastically reduced over recent years in favour of student housing, largely due to factors such as rising construction costs, availability of materials and building safety issues. If the current trend continues, the council estimates that, by 2028, students would account for more than a quarter of Wembley’s population.
The need for affordable and family-sized homes in the borough has become urgent in the past couple of years, the council says. The number of people presenting as homeless to the local authority rose by 23 per cent in the three years to August 2024 – up to around 140 households a week – and has continued to rise, with more than half now housed in temporary accommodation.
During this time, housing delivery has “slowed significantly”, with just 656 of the 2,325 required homes between 2023 and 2024 actually delivered – despite more than 8,000 homes having planning permission. Instead, investor interest has increased in student accommodation, which has been pushed forward on many sites previously permitted for conventional housing development.
Brent has only one higher education campus in the borough – the University of Westminster at Northwick Park, which has 150 student bed spaces. However, over the past decade the provision of PBSA housing has grown significantly, with 6,257 units not completed, 1,617 under construction, and a further 1,559 either permitted or approved in principle.
Applications for an additional 2,010 bed spaces are yet to be determined, with another 918 spaces in advanced stages. Most of these are in the Wembley area, but other growth areas are now starting to be subject to greater interest, according to the council.
Plans to demolish a Matalan store to make way for hundreds of new student rooms were passed in August despite significant concerns about the new building’s size.
Having more dedicated student housing does provide tangible benefits; the council points to it reducing the number of students occupying private rentals, contributing towards housing delivery targets, and bringing more overseas students with high disposable income to the area.
But if all currently proposed student schemes in Wembley were delivered, it would increase the number of bed spaces from 6,058 to 9,558, raising the student population from 21.8% to 26.8% by 2028 – an amount the council would not consider to be “mixed and balanced”.
Therefore, the local authority has tabled a plan to pause student schemes not already consented, submitted, or in advanced discussions in Wembley – with the possibility of seeking similar pauses in other areas if required. The proposal will be decided on at next week’s cabinet meeting (October 13).
Cabinet member for regeneration, planning and property, Cllr Teo Benea, said: “The presence of higher education institutions in Brent is limited. However, the size of the sector in London, together with limited opportunities centrally to accommodate students, means Brent does and will play a role in housing students.
“Brent has provided a substantial number of PBSA bed-spaces in the last decade. Currently there is substantial interest in the sector, with activity elevated significantly when compared to conventional housing proposals. However, in Wembley if recent trends were to be continued for the next three years, there is the prospect of a potential imbalance in Brent priority housing needs being met and longer term an unbalanced and mixed community occurring.”
