Portsmouth University blamed for lack of student hall demand

Crown Place is 23 storeys high with 576 rooms.

A student halls owner has claimed empty rooms are due to a university continuing to encourage online learning despite Covid restrictions lifting.

An application has been submitted for Crown Place halls in Portsmouth to be allowed to use 115 rooms for housing.

Building owner Collegiate said the problems were being caused by a lack of overseas students.

A University of Portsmouth spokesman dismissed the claim and said students had not been advised to study online.

The planning statement submitted said the owners wanted to maximise income whilst the housing sector recovers from the pandemic, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The plans affect about 20% of the halls' accommodation space.

The owners said: "The University of Portsmouth has advised all international students who were studying online during the main lockdown periods to continue studying online.

"This flies in the face of advice of other universities which was to come back to campus.

"The impact of this has been that fewer international students are in the market for Portsmouth accommodation."

But a university spokesman said: "The University of Portsmouth has always placed a high value on face-to-face teaching for all our students.

"Online learning was offered to students during the pandemic if they could not travel to the UK because of restrictions in their countries and to follow government guidelines.

"The university has never been consulted by the developers of Crown Place at any point during the building's development, construction or planning."