Author Cllr Isabel Mullens
This group consisted of Cllr Isabel Mullens, Independent councillor for Egham Town (chair); the Head of Commercial Services at RHUL, whose brief includes student accommodation; Assistant Planning Policy Manager (Local Plan) at RBC, involved in the review of the Local Plan and work on the Article 4 Direction; the Chair of the Egham Residents’ Association (ERA); the Chair of Englefield Green Village Residents’ Association (EGVRA); and the Head of Community Engagement at RHUL Students’ Union. Cllr Trevor Gates, Independent councillor for Englefield Green East joined us for most of the sessions, and the Director of Estates at RHUL joined us for one meeting.
The purpose of the group has been to consider the impact the university has had on the local community in terms of accommodation, since its expansion following the production of the 2013 Masterplan. We looked for lessons that can be learnt so that the student accommodation needs of future expansion can be planned for, so that they don’t cause any further harm to Egham and Englefield Green.
The issues dealt with by all three of the Working Groups arise from having a relatively large university being a neighbour to a small town and village, a situation which is not so common in other university towns. We all need to be good neighbours.
What have we heard and learned? In summary, we looked at evidence of a decline of families living in the area; evidence of a worrying fall in numbers at local schools, as families are displaced by students; evidence of where students live in the community; data from RHUL on student numbers, both currently and future projections. From RBC we’ve had input about possible ways of controlling the numbers of students living in the community in HMOs in the future. And we’ve received a statement from the university on their understanding of their impact on the local community.
In detail:
- We are greatly indebted to Englefield resident Tanja Rodenburg for her study of changing community demographics and school roll numbers in the wards of Egham Town, Englefield Green East and Englefield Green West, using census data from 2001,2011 and 2021, and data on school roll numbers from Ofsted.The report shows that the percentage of student age adults (aged 18-23) has increased substantially in all three wards since 2001, while the percentage of younger parent adults (aged 24-39) has shrunk substantially.
- Concomitant with this fall in younger parent adults Tanja’s report presented powerful evidence of falling rolls at all the local primary schools, over and above national changes. The school most affected is St. Jude’s Church of England Junior School, at which the roll number fell by 42% between 2012 and 2022. If such a decline in numbers were to continue, the viability of this school would be under threat. The closure of the local primary school would do great damage to Englefield Green village, which would be in danger of becoming a student village, an issue of huge concern to local residents.As said before, Egham and Englefield Green face particular and unusual challenges, as a small town and a village, with a university which has seen phenomenal growth in student numbers, over a relatively short time period. In 1970, the university had around 1,200 students. By 2000 it had around 6,000, but now it has almost double that number, at 11,648. And the university aims to increase that number further.
- Evidence of where students are living in the community: The group was provided with two heat maps. That from RHUL showed the locations of where students live at the level of postcode. This included all students known to live in the area. The heat map from RBC showed the locations of properties where no Council Tax is paid due to students exclusively living in the property. The density of these student HMOs exceeds 800/km2 across two hot spots centred on the heart of Englefield Green and the west of Egham.
- RHUL provided the group with data on student numbers, which are currently at 11,648 (at the Englefield Green campus). 60% of these students require accommodating locally, and the other 40% commute to the university, and so don’t need local housing. Of those requiring accommodation, around 4,300 bedrooms are available in Purpose Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) and University halls, leaving an estimated 2,700 reliant on finding accommodation in the local area. The university is hoping to increase student numbers to 13,626 by 2030, but they estimate that the percentage of these students who will commute will increase to 50%, and that therefore they estimate there will be no increase in the number of students needing accommodation locally. The figures on the change in percentage of commuting students is critical in understanding the impact of the proposed increase in student numbers on accommodation requirements, and we have sought further detail on the basis of the estimate made by the university.
Finally, the Director of Estates at RHUL spoke to the group about the RHUL Masterplan, which is currently being updated. He spoke about the challenges and aspirations of the university in the light of changing circumstances, and how that affected the plans for the University Estate in the future.
Looking at all this information, we all agreed on lots of things!
The Working Group as a whole agreed that the cause of the current situation lies with an absence of planning to cope with the increase in student numbers, most recently at the time of the adoption of the 2014 RHUL Master Plan. Runnymede Borough Council failed to adopt planning measures to pre-emptively protect family homes. RHUL failed to plan and provide PBSA at sufficient scale. There was unanimity across the Working Group in acknowledging and regretting this.
We all agreed that any further increase in student numbers should be subject to proper planning. It was agreed that Egham and Englefield Green are full as far as students living in the community are concerned, but that if where people lived was solely dictated by market forces, were there to be additional demand, more families would be priced out of the local housing market.
The members of the Working Group spelt out their individual aspirations: the University’s priority is for the availability of good quality, affordable accommodation for all students, regardless of provider. It has aspirations to increase student numbers, since it believes that is the only way to survive.
EGVRA and ERA, citing the unsustainability of the current situation, look for any increase in students to be wholly accommodated in PBSA. They contend that it is the responsibility of RHUL to provide student accommodation to match any planned increase in numbers, leading to no additional student HMOs in the community and preferably a decrease.
Independent councillors Isabel Mullens (Egham) and Trevor Gates (Englefield Green) accept the positive contribution HMOs make to student experience, but agreed that Egham Town and Englefield Green are at saturation point with regard to accommodation outside of PBSA.
Solution 1. The RBC Planning department is currently revising the Runnymede Local Development Plan. As part of this update, a policy change needs to be made to the adopted Local Plan so as to ensure that it includes criteria against which any future planning applications for HMOs can be determined. This policy change could, for example, consider incorporating measures to enable the control of the location and density of future student HMOs. So, new policy in the Local Plan could, for example, stipulate the maximum density of HMOs in an area or street. Alongside updates to the Local Plan, the Council is looking at bringing forward an ‘Article 4 Direction’ for small HMOs. At the present time, it is possible to convert a family home into a small House of Multiple Occupation (HMO), under Permitted Development rules, i.e. without the need for a full planning application. An Article 4 Direction would require such a conversion to involve the submission of a planning application, and these would be determined against the criteria set out within the updated policies in the Local Plan, as described above, to determine in what circumstances planning permission would be granted or refused.
Solution 2. RBC Planners will also work on planning policies for the protection of family homes. It is expected that RBC will carry out an informal public consultation in the coming months, when stakeholders, including of course residents, will be asked for their comments on the potential scope of the Local Plan. It does need to be said however, that the timeline of the Local Plan is unclear, due to Local Government Reorganisation.
Solution 3. The Working Group has asked the University for their Estates Plan for expansion to be constrained by the impacts on the local community, in addition to any other constraints they may have. In response, the university has provided the following statement:
It is not possible to give a guaranteed figure on the number of students who are studying at the Egham Campus and will require accommodation in the coming years; this will be monitored each year to understand any trends and requirements will be built into the emerging Estates Strategy. The University understands the need for students who are studying on the Egham Campus, and are not commuting, to live in accommodation that is safe, secure, well managed and meets the needs of students in terms of affordability, configuration and location. It is recognised that each student is unique and will prioritise their requirements differently. HMOs provide an important accommodation type for students; giving them greater independence and skills that they do not gain from living in Halls, however, the University is mindful of the pressure this places on the community living in Egham and Englefield Green, and that a decrease in students in HMOs is seen as desirable to the local community. The current challenges facing local schools is noted as is the importance of keeping a mixed community in the Egham and Englefield Green areas. Students play an important part of this community, but it is recognised they should not overwhelm the community to such an extend that it can not be a thriving community for families and professionals and local residents.
The University is clear that any future growth in student numbers at the Egham Campus will only proceed where there is a realistic, deliverable plan for appropriate student accommodation, including the use of on-campus and purpose-built provision, and will not rely on continued growth in HMOs. We have already begun working with Runnymede Borough Council as it prepares its new Local Plan and Accommodation Strategy, including engaging with external experts contributing to this process.
This response from RHUL is very welcome. The chair would like to thank the members of the working group for all their hard work over the past 6 months. The progress of the proposed solutions will be monitored through the Royal Holloway Runnymede Consultative Group in the months and years to come.
Original docx version of this report