Brookes sells off old hostel (From Oxford Mail)
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Brookes sells off old hostel
2:30pm Friday 13th May 2011 in News
By Reg Little, Oxford Times Chief Reporter. Call me on 01865 425434
Cotuit House
OXFORD Brookes University is selling an accommodation block to an international school.
Cotuit Hall in Pullens Lane, Headington is to become an A-Level boarding academy.
The hall, close to the main Oxford Brookes campus on Gipsy Lane, is able to accommodate at least 100 students.
But the sale has provoked complaints that, rather than selling buildings, Brookes should be doing everything it can to accommodate more of its students, to reduce pressure on private rented accommodation.
Residents have complained that areas of East Oxford and Headington are becoming student ghettos.
EF International Academy will use the Cotuit Hall site to house 16- to 18-year-olds from abroad studying two-year A-Level and International Baccalaureate courses to try to get into UK universities.
Brookes registrar Paul Large said the university was planning to house 300 students in a new development on the former Dorset House School site in nearby London Road.
Mr Large added: “This will be accommodation that is far more suitable to our current needs.
“We’re extremely confident we’ll maintain our commitment to reduce the number of Brookes students living in private housing.”
But Elizabeth Mills, chairman of Divinity Road Area Residents’ Association, said: “It doesn’t help the pressure on the community, and the numbers of houses of multiple occupation in the area, if accommodation that is appropriate for under- graduate students is sold off.
“In Divinity Road, only six of the first 30 homes have permanent residents. The rest are students. The challenge to Brookes is to redress the balance.”
Comments(4)
Lord Peter Mcvey
says...
7:10pm Fri 13 May 11
Andrew:Oxford
says...
9:02pm Fri 13 May 11
That's good to know! There's only a 1 in 5 chance of upsetting a permanent resident by parking at the start of Divinity Road and walking to the High.
riman09
says...
8:03pm Sat 14 May 11
As there are now a lot of Brookes Buses plying routes to the campuses, it becomes expedient to have accommodation all over the city, if only to ensure 'student noise' is not concentrated in one locality.
I suspect too, that access to other amenities and conveniences, & past student feedback would make it more attractive to sell one property over developing another.
jockox3 says...
3:25pm Fri 13 May 11
On the other hand, EF's main site is even closer than is Brookes's is to Cotuit. The secluded location is perhaps even more suitable for youngsters who are too young to be out drinking till the early hours and potentially disturbing neighbours.
Put the two together and if EF feel that site is so valuable to them that they can pay sufficient for Brookes to be able to get the quality of room their students now demand elsewhere both parties, and the local communities, win out of it.
Who knows, the common complaint of neighbours that students are but "short term residents" in "our" city, might also be further repudiated by this move. If people study at EF for two years then Brookes or Oxford for three, they'll be here as long as many "regular" residents of the city! And all spending lots of money into the local economy at the same time.
That would make it a "win, win, win, win" arrangement surely?