Student Hill town v gown
Will new strategy create harmony between town and gown?
New concerns are emerging in Round Hill over the changing nature of the neighbourhood. With a growing student population, and reports of professionals moving away in search of quieter environments, is the area about to become the next student quarter?
Concerns over studentification have been growing in Brighton and Hove since the 1970s as student numbers have swelled. The city hosts one of the highest concentrations of students in the UK. At 13% of the population, only Oxford and Cambridge maintain a higher proportion. Residents in Round Hill will be familiar with the problems that are traditionally associated with "student ghettoes": noisy late-night parties, poorly maintained properties, increased pressure on parking during term-time and refuse abandoned on the streets.
But many will also recognise the other side of the story. The student population is a vital part of the city's mix, contributing considerably to the young and vibrant culture of the area. The universities play an important role in the local economy, creating a versatile and skilled labour pool. The demand for accommodation has been good news for house owners in the city, sustaining house prices and boosting the buy-to-let market. Brighton and Hove has also been cited as a case study in how to effectively balance the interests of town and gown. Thanks to the work of Dr Darren Smith of Brighton University, the issue of "studentification" in parts of the city has been studied closely and a series of approaches have been adopted to encourage harmony between students and long-term residents. The accommodation offices at Brighton and Sussex Universities have encouraged a wide distribution of student housing in the city. This work over many years has meant that Brighton does not face the same problems as some areas of Birmingham or Manchester for example, where the proportion of student housing exceeds 80% in some streets.
But growing differentiation in house prices across areas of the city and the need for self- funding students to control transport and accommodation costs threatens to create greater concentrations of student housing in the Lewes Road corridor. The danger is recognised by the City Council who, earlier this year, endorsed a new five-year strategy to meet the increasing demand for student accommodation.
So what can be done to address the issue? The most important components of the strategy are to increase the availability of purpose-built University accommodation in the city and at the same time, manage the distribution of student housing within the private sector.
Just under one fifth of students in the city are housed in University accommodation and both Sussex and Brighton are planning to increase provision for housing. City planners have indicated that part of the Preston Barracks site will include a new student village of 500 and they are also considering proposals to redevelop Varley Halls on Coldean Lane, which will double the accommodation to 564 rooms. Building is underway on a new complex for more than 600 rooms on the Sussex campus. The theory promoted by the strategy is that increasing purpose-built accommodation will help the Council to manage the demand on the private sector. But there is scepticism over whether enough can be done to make a significant impact. Prospects for Preston Barracks have not left the drawing board despite years of aspirations and the current economic climate is not encouraging for large- scale developments. The Universities are also limited in their plans by the need to redevelop older accommodation which no longer meets the needs of a modern institution. Individual developments are likely to face hurdles too. Coldean residents are resistant to the level of growth proposed for Varley Halls and last year two applications for a 182-room student residence on the site of the dilapidated Saunders Glassworks were refused by planners.
The other significant component of the strategy is to control the distribution of student housing across the city. Houses in multiple occupation, or HMOs, have to be licensed by the Council if they are over two storeys high or accommodate five or more residents and this gives the authority the chance to manage the distribution of housing across the city. But the licensing requirement applies only to new developments and Brighton already has 15,000 HMOs - the highest total in the country. Much of the housing stock in Brighton is also too small to qualify for the definition. In many parts of Round Hill, houses would escape the licensing requirement.
The implementation of HMO licensing is now the most important prospect for maintaining a healthy balance between the interests of short and longer-term residents and eleventh hour changes by the outgoing Labour government cleared the way for local authorities to impose licensing on smaller properties. This could also help to ensure that all residents of areas such as Round Hill continue to enjoy a mixed and lively community well into the future.
We can all play a constructive part in the mixed community that is Round Hill. New residents will not necessarily know what day the refuse is collected or the damage gulls can inflict on plastic sacks during the day. The recycling vehicle appears fortnightly, and will only take specific types of packaging and paper. Talk to your new neighbours so that they know what t put out and when. If there is a front garden perhaps you can ask the landlord to provide a dustbin and lid to reduce the gull problem, thus allowing the rubbish to be put out rather than be stored indoors.
During the summer change-over landlords are busy clearing and refurbing their properties for the next group of students. It can be a stressful time for neighbours as heaps of trash are put out, hopefully for arranged removal at some time. Too often absentee landlords seem happy to turn our home area into a temporary tip they do not have to live with.
This page was last updated by Ted on 16-Apr-2026