Christ Church University is planning to build more accommodation for its students. The massive building will be called St George’s place and will cater for 650 students in Canterbury. The university already have accommodation spots around town. Lanfranc, Parham, Pin Hill and accommodation on campus. But the new proposal will also be used to accommodate low-income families and benefit local people.
The site will be close to the university’s new library, Augustine house. If it gets planning permission, the housing will have 24- hour warden supervision and take over Netto, Planet lazer (which turns into a club at night called soap) and Bamboo Tiger are now. Mixed reactions have been felt about the university’s proposal
Amy Lodge, Manager in retail shop Office in the town said;
“Canterbury doesn’t have many night clubs, and the ones they do have are more for students. Soap is where I go weekly so it’s a shame that this will have to go just to provide more student accommodation. A real shame”.
Carly Scott, 22 also explained “I lived in Parham in my first year. It was great. It was like a village filled with student housing and was near 24 Hour Asda. This new proposal however I don’t think will be good. It’s based on a busy main road. Surely this is dangerous”.
“The only benefit to this new site is its close to the library ".
Rebecca Hunt, 20, however supports the new accommodation:
“Because of the rise in students coming to Canterbury Christ Church University, I had nowhere to live when I came here last September. The university had to go to the estate agents and rent out a house for me and others as they simply didn’t have enough accommodation. It wasn’t good because I felt very much out the loop in terms of the social side.
The new proposal to build more houses is a brilliant idea .Its needed if they want to attract prospectus students to Canterbury.”
Another site where accommodation will be built is Rhodaus town, on the site of the Robins and day Peugeot garage. 449 student rooms will be built here along with shops.
The university has grown since 13 years ago where one campus catered for 5,000 students.
Lee Soden, director of Facilities management said;
"This is about responding to the fact that we will need to improve the quality of accommodation. It is also about reducing the number of student residences we have so we can manage the activity better in more controlled locations, and reduce impact on local residents".
The development is expected to be ready by September 2012, subject to planning approval.
