Co-living schemes

Co-living Schemes are not defined in national policy or guidance. They are purpose-built residential schemes that often comprise studio bedspaces with access to shared communal facilities. They fall under a sui generis planning use class; schemes may be new build, or conversions of existing buildings. Co-living is a relatively new housing model which allows occupiers to live together communally with accommodation containing individual bedrooms and communal areas such as kitchens, living areas, and areas to work.

Co-living schemes are being promoted by developers as a more affordable and transitional form of purpose built rented accommodation for various groups of people such as young professionals or recent graduates who are on their way to transitioning to rented self-contained flats or houses, or home ownership.

The adopted B&NES Local Plan does not currently comprise a policy relating to co-living developments, against which to assess planning applications. As such, it has been acknowledged that there is currently the potential for an inconsistent approach to co-living planning applications without formal, visible guidance on co-living developments. Therefore, we have produced an interim position statement which will clarify the local plan policies the council will consider when assessing planning applications for co-living proposals, and how they will be applied. The Co-living Position Statement will provide some guidance until a specific policy is adopted in the new local plan.

Co-living is not typically restricted to any particular user group; it can serve various demographics including students. As such, co-living has been promoted as an alternative purpose built rented accommodation which could help to meet the housing needs of various groups, including recent graduates and young professionals, as well as alleviate accommodation pressures from increased numbers of students in Bath.

However, the council’s strategy for student accommodation is that the future increase in student numbers should be accommodated on campuses and other allocated sites for that purpose. As such, the council have a specific policy (H2A) relating to provision of purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA), which seeks to ensure that PBSA is provided either on-campus, or off-campus only in association with a university via a nomination agreement, or if provided for 2nd or 3rd year students who would otherwise reside in Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) in the city.

In order to meet the needs of 2nd or 3rd year students who would otherwise reside in HMOs, PBSA developments must meet the requirements of such students with regards to type of accommodation. These students generally have a preference to live as a household with friends, at a cost level similar to renting an HMO. Such accommodation is likely to comprise cluster flats with shared facilities, whereas studio accommodation is considered to be too expensive for these students, and is not therefore supported by policy H2A.

As co-living schemes are mostly provided as studios, at a price point significantly higher than student cluster flats and HMOs within the city, co-living accommodation is not considered an appropriate type of accommodation to meet the needs of student occupiers. Co-living schemes are also useful in helping to meet the needs of other groups.

Options as relates to student occupancy are as follows.