A moratorium has been imposed on new houses of multiple occupation (HMOs) in central St Andrews after a warning the area could soon be completely populated by students.
Permanent residents complain the town suffers from neglect of properties by absentee landlords, a loss of community and conflict between lifestyles.
However, students fear prohibiting new rental properties will increase already fierce competition, drive up prices and force students into peripheral parts of the town more suitable for families.
Representatives of the students’ association, the St Andrews Preservation Trust and the Confederation of St Andrews Residents Association presented both sides of the argument at the meeting before councillors voted.
Mrs Morrison said failure to preserve a balanced community would be “fatal” for the town.
She said, “It’s not a case of students in the red corner, residents in the blue corner and let battle commence.”
Acknowledging the annual struggle for student accommodation, which has seen some camp outside letting agency offices, she said, “We will do everything we can to work with the students to ensure that the problems they have gradually diminish.”
Fellow St Andrews councillor Robin Waterston argued that the expected decrease in student numbers meant accommodation pressure should be past its worst.
However, as HMOs are profitable and students want to live in the town centre, he reckoned demand for them in the conservation area would persist.
He said, “For any residential area, the presence of a sufficient population of permanent residents is crucial to sustain the quality of community.
“Who but permanent residents will, for example, support the residents associations, maintain exteriors of properties in good condition, take pride in their gardens, put out window boxes, scrutinise planning applications, even report road defects, but most importantly provide that core of stability and community that is to the benefit of all the residents, permanent and transient?”
St Andrews’ other two councillors opposed the policy.
After assessing the consultation feedback, council planners had advised that the policy was not the mechanism to create a more balanced community or enable local people easier access to affordable housing in the centre of the town.
North-east Fife councillors have ruled planning permission will no longer be granted for conversion of properties into HMOs or creation of new buildings for the purpose.
The news prompted anger from student leaders in the town.
St Andrews Students’ Association president Owen Wilton said, “We have consistently offered olive branches to the councillors, and tried to put across a balanced and rational case against these plans.
“We repeatedly tried to explain that an artificial HMO cap would spread the student population thin and wide, pushing rental demand into the peripheries of the town, driving up prices in the only areas in St Andrews that remain relatively affordable.
“It is incredibly frustrating that they have dismissed our concerns, and ignored the advice of their own experts in this way.”
Vice-president Siena Parker said, “We feel the committee was distracted from issues of affordability by a small, but very vocal and privileged group of permanent residents who have taken it upon themselves to be ‘champions of the town’.”
Some 85% of homes in St Andrews town centre are HMOs houses or flats shared by five or more unrelated people most of them rented by students.
The proposal to ban new properties for multiple occupation in the heart of the town divided opinion, with only slightly more supporting it during a public consultation.
The split was reflected in Fife Council’s north-east Fife area committee on Wednesday, with eight councillors voting for the planning policy and seven against.
Councillor planners had recommended it be abandoned.
Before the vote Councillor Dorothea Morrison told the committee, “The town would suffer so much if St Andrews (centre) becomes 100% student populated and that’s what’s going to happen if we adopt the recommendation.”
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