Student accommodation plans for Cannon Park Shopping Centre car park

The owners of Cannon Park Shopping Centre plan to build a new student accommodation in the car park area, which is being opposed by nearby residents.

The proposed building will have 850 bedrooms for students. Three to six storeys will encompass a mix of cluster and studio flats. Construction of the accommodation block will start in summer 2019 and end in summer 2021.

The car parking spaces compensated for the accommodation block will be moved to a new multi-storey car park. Developers are hoping to submit the application to Coventry City Council by September 2018.

Owner McAleer & Rushe aims to invest profits from the accommodation into the shopping centre on Lynchgate Road. They hope to attract new retailers and food and drink outlets to increase its appeal to customers, in addition to installing new flooring and a timber ceiling.

On 25 July, hundreds of people attended a consultation event held at the shopping centre. Residents expressed a range of opinions, and some were concerned that communities will be separated due to the influx of students.

One resident said: “The sad thing about it is it’s breaking up communities. People are leaving and as soon as their houses go up on the market they are snapped up and rented out to students. We moved in in 1986 and back then it was the area to live in, but not now.”

Another resident told CoventryLive: “We live on the estate and we’re not happy about it at all. They’ve only just finished building the one just around the corner [in Shultern Lane]. It was a nice residential area but now we’re surrounded by students, we’re inundated.”

Construction of the “Signature Student Living” building on Shultern Lane finished at the beginning of this year, which made studio flats and en-suite rooms with shared kitchen facilities available near the University.

Dan Di-Lieto of Lichfields, planning consultant for McAleer & Rushe, said: “We’ve had a good mix of comments today. Obviously students are a hot topic and people are positive about this, that it is a stand alone development and is taking the students out of Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) in residential areas.”

He added: “People have been quite fair, it’s not that they don’t like students but the main thing we hear is that they don’t like the fact the universities are building all these things on their campuses and not student accommodation.”