Non-students can live in Uni blocks during term

The biggest issue in Coventry affecting student demand is oversupply of accommodation, according to council documents (stock image)

Rooms in a university accommodation block will be rented out to non-students during term time following council permission.

Student demand in Coventry has plummeted since Trinity View opened on Friars Road in 2019 and parts of the building have been left empty as a result, according to a letter submitted on behalf of the private applicant seeking additional use.

Backing the request, the situation will be monitored by the local authority, with the new arrangement allowed until 2027.

Conditions will be applied that mean non-students can only stay at the block for a maximum of 90 days under a measure that is hoped to assist tourism.

Having Trinity View any less than 95% full was “not sustainable"

Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic had resulted in far fewer international students coming to the UK for their studies, according to the letter.

There was also an “oversupply of purpose built student accommodation” in the city.

Since 2022, when the city council agreed the building could temporarily rent rooms to non-students outside term time, student demand had seen “further decline", the document continued.

The building had “high levels of vacancy” in the academic year, the letter added, reducing from 92% occupancy in 2021-22 to 74% - and only recovering this year due to short-term lets.

Other student blocks in the city were in a “similar situation” - which was clear, the letter stated, from additional change-of-use bids, such as that for 33 Parkside last year.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.