Victorian villas to be replaced with new postgraduate rooms for St John’s College, Cambridge

Three Victorian villas in Cambridge are to be demolished to make way for new postgraduate student accommodation for St John’s College, despite objections from Cambridge Past Present and Future.

Cambridge City Council granted permission for the buildings known as Fossdene, Whinside and The Gables, in Mount Pleasant, to be replaced with five buildings for postgraduates at the University of Cambridge college.

A fourth Victorian villa, known as The Knott, will be converted and extended to provide a sixth student accommodation block.

The college said the new accommodation means it can release 60 rooms across the city back into the private rental market.

Alison Cox, from St John’s, told a planning committee last Wednesday (December 6), that the college had looked at ways to convert all the villas into postgraduate accommodation but issues such as subsidence meant that would “leave little more than one wall of each property unaltered”.

The new buildings will follow the character of the area and reuse bricks from the existing houses, she said.

“There will be hugely improved facilities, more usable amenity space, controlled and reduced car parking, better cycle parking and waste storage and disposal, all achieved with 44 per cent biodiversity net gain,” said Ms Cox.

“The boundary treatment to Mount Pleasant will be hugely improved and retain key trees supplemented by new planting.

“Historic England agrees that overall the scheme will preserve the character and appearance of the conservation area.

“Losing buildings which have occupied the site for more than a century is always regrettable, but the benefits the development will bring are very clear.

“This very high quality scheme will benefit future generations of scholars and the wider community for years to come.”

But Cambridge Past Present and Future said the removal of the villas with their large individual gardens changed the character of the area from domestic to a campus development.

Sarah Nicholas, from Cambridge PPF, said the charity believed some changes would make it “less harmful to the conservation area”.

She asked for a delay to the decision to ask the college to consider keeping two of the houses and making the new buildings smaller.

A council conservation officer also had concerns about the size of the new buildings and said the redevelopment would create a “college court rather than villas in their own gardens”.

The officer said the changes would cause “less than substantial” harm on the character of the conservation area, which councillors needed to balance against potential public benefits.

Planning officers felt the benefits did outweigh the harm and, recommending the plans for approval, noted the release of 60 rooms to the private rental market. It was acknowledged this could only be guaranteed for a certain period of time, which had not yet been agreed.

Officers said other benefits included the biodiversity net gain, the economic benefits from the construction and potential jobs for managing the site once complete.

Cllr Katie Porrer (Lib Dem, Market) said the proposed new buildings were “attractive”, but raised questions about the protection of existing trees.

A planning officer said the college has designed the plans to “sensitively be built around the trees” that were already growing on the land. There will be a “degree of loss” due to the number of students that would be housed on site. It was noted some of the trees due to be cut down were already in “conflict” with existing buildings.

Cllr Dave Baigent (Lab, Romsey) was saddened at the loss of some trees, but felt the return of rooms to the private market was a “positive thing”.

Cllr Martin Smart (Lab, King’s Hedges) thought the proposals were “excellent” and argued the design of the new buildings “respects its context”

Cllr Alice Gilderdale (Lab, East Chesterton) was not convinced the return of rooms to the market was such a benefit..

She said: “The college will remain the landlord, so the college will financially benefit from being able to rent out to the public, for the college it is just a different name on the tenancy agreement. In addition, the private market means the rents could go up as student accommodation has subsidised rates.

“The idea of 60 rooms going to the public is over emphasised, ultimately this benefits the college more than the public.”

A majority of the councillors voted in favour of approving the plans.