FOI - Elephant & Castle student accommodation [Jan 2025]

Your request 

1. Regarding Elephant and Castle, what is the number of total units that have been given planning permission or have been completed for across student house, non student rental units, social housing units, affordable units and market rate units? 
2. What is the average proportion of students to non students in Elephant and Castle over the last five years? 
3. What is the current number of people that have been denied social housing in Elephant in Castle over the last five years? 
4. What proportion of the student accommodation units does the plan expect the average British student attending a higher education institution in London can afford? 
5. I assume when granting planning for student accommodation planning permission an impact student is completed - how many non students accommodation units have been scarified in the last five years for student accommodation? Additionally, what does the GLA consider affordable to a student. 
6. What has the impact been on the Elephant and Castle’s rental and home prices due to the decisions to proportionately over allocate a greater number of student units to the area. 
7. Who has oversight of the GLAs plans to under allocate housing to residents and not students in Elephant and Castle, the local MP.  

Our response

I can confirm that the GLA holds some of the information within the scope of your request, as set out below:

Data on housing completions and permissions is publicly available through the Planning Datahub where you can filter by local authority and by address or Opportunity Area (of which Elephant and Castle is one). Data on housing completions, including market housing, affordable housing and student housing which is a sub-set of what is termed ‘non-self containing dwellings’ is here: Residential completions dashboard - London Datastore – filtering for Southwark, and clicking through the different pages to explore different details (page 6 is the one where you can search by address or Opportunity Area, make sure you scroll right down to find the filter). You can also use the ‘pipeline’  dashboard of approvals (planning permissions not yet started) and schemes that are currently being built out, which has a similar search/filter capability. [Question 1]

In respect of data on students and non-students, this would have to be dealt with by the Council (Southwark) itself, who may be able to give some data derived from council tax records. Publicly-available census data may also give you a snapshot of what it was like in 2021 – using Build a custom area profile - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk) – you can build a profile around a particular postcode or map selected area and select ‘students and schoolchildren’ to give an understanding of the proportion of the population in that area who are studying as compared to those who are not. [Question 2]

The London Plan policy on student accommodation defines affordable student accommodation as that let at 55% of the maximum student maintenance loan available to non-London students studying in London. This definition was agreed in consultation with stakeholders including universities, the National Union of Students and boroughs. It is currently calculated to be just over £7300 per year and the London Plan policy seeks the ‘maximum amount’ that is viable, at this rental level, which is typically divided over 38 weeks and includes utilities, broadband etc. However, some students live in private rental accommodation, (e.g. shared houses) and some of this may also meet this definition in some places, as will older university-owned accommodation. This report looks at the affordability of London’s purpose built student accommodation sector in the round (note: the policy only applies to new build and there are wider issues with student funding not keeping up with inflation) . [Question 4]

In addition however, Southwark’s own Local Plan policy also applies in decisions in this area, which has different requirements in relation to student housing. This policy will have been tested (along with the plan as a whole) by the Planning Inspectorate on behalf of the government to ensure it is ‘sound’  - meaning it is appropriately justified, meets needs and so on. This may include evidence on local rents and house prices.  Any queries on this, and how different considerations are weighed in assessing individual planning applications should be directed to Southwark Council which is the Local Planning Authority.  [Question 4, 5, 6, 7]

As Housing Authority, Southwark Council should also be able to advise on the extent of the Local Authority (social) housing waiting list. The number of people in temporary accommodation in Southwark, because they are homeless and the council are unable to house them otherwise is publicly available  here (table TA1). [Question 3]

The GLA have some oversight of decision-making in the case of planning applications that are ‘referable’ to the Mayor (e.g. where over 150 dwellings), where the application is scrutinised for its compliance with the London Plan, and issues reported to the borough to inform subsequent negotiations. In rare cases, where there are particular concerns, the application may be ‘called in’ to be decided by the Mayor. [Question 7]

The GLA London Plan team also have oversight through our review of evidence to help inform updates to the London plan, which will be looking at this issue of how much purpose-built student accommodation we should be seeking relative to the amount of conventional or ‘general needs’ housing, and how much lower rent student housing we should be seeking as part of new developments.  This will include consideration of data on supply and what different proportions could mean, including any ‘crowding out’ issues of the type you refer, but also how some purpose-built student housing can alleviate pressures on the wider private rental sector (if priced right). These issues will generally be explored at a wider London scale, though we are aware of concerns in some places and we have recently published some guidance on how they should be considered in the planning process here. Any evidence you may wish to submit on what is happening in Elephant and Castle should be sent to: [email protected] [Question 6, 7]