Sustaining Balanced Communities - Leeds Shared Housing Action Plan
News Story :: 2008-01-03 17:48:14
Following on from a series of consultation meetings in November and December, 2005, Nottingham’s first ‘Student Housing Action Plan (SHAP)’ was launched at the Council House in September, 2006. A follow-up series of consultation events was held in June and July, 2007, and a revised and up-dated SHAP is under development.
Meantime, Leeds has produced its own revised SHAP entitled ‘Sustaining Balanced Communities: a Shared Housing Action Plan 2008’, and a copy was given to us when a Councillor and Council Officer from Leeds came to a meeting of the Student Co-ordination and Delivery Group in December, 2007.
The plan was produced by the Leeds Shared Housing Group comprising representatives from: the Leeds HMO Lobby, Leeds Metropolitan University, Leeds Met. Students’ Union, Leeds University Union, the University of Leeds, Unipol and Leeds City Council.
The Shared Housing Group ‘… was set up to consider the impact of students and shared housing issues in Inner North West Leeds, with the aim of creating more balanced and therefore more sustainable communities.
‘This plan aims to redress the balance between numbers of students and permanent residents in the area, whilst effectively managing the social and economic issues resulting from the large number of students residing in the area.’
The agreed objectives of the plan are:
· To increase the sustainability of the Area of Housing Mix within Inner North West Leeds
· To reduce the number of students in full-time education accommodated within the Area of Housing Mix as a proportion of the population, by the Census in 2011
· To increase the proportion of students in full-time education accommodated outside the Area of Housing Mix by 2011
· To increase the range of opportunities for student housing in Leeds.