St Joseph's reaction: 'We don’t need more student housing’

Given the large number of students already living in council wards close to the University of Bristol, the plan for St Joseph’s is already proving controversial. While a few residents supported the idea in a recent discussion thread on community website Next Door, more posted comments against it.

One poster said: “We don't need more student housing. It seems that any property which becomes vacant is now turned into student accommodation. We need housing for single people at affordable rents.”

According to Harringay’s website, the care home and convent was built in 1860, then restored in the 1950s after wartime bomb damage. Until its sale in 2025, it was operated by the Little Sisters of the Poor, a religious order.

The developer says of its proposal: “There is an acute shortage of student accommodation in Bristol, particularly around the University of Bristol’s Clifton campus. A shortfall in purpose-built student accommodation in the city means that many students live in flats and houses that might normally be occupied by families or young professionals starting out in their careers, which in turn places pressure on housing options and affordability in the city.”

Harringay stresses the “sustainability” of its proposals, noting that the site is just a few minutes’ walk from the main university buildings and is close to major bus routes. Converting to student accommodation, it adds, “requires only low impact internal reconfiguration of the building.” Apart from new energy-saving windows, there will be few changes to the exterior. High Student Population

Plans include amenity space in the former chapel, as well as retention of a communal garden at the back of the building.

However, it’s the possible addition of 131 student beds that is attracting attention. Cotham Hill sits in Clifton Down ward, which along with neighbouring Cotham has one of the highest student populations in the city, mostly accommodated in HMOs (Houses in Multiple Occupation).

For many residents, these HMOs have become associated with night-time noise disturbance and streets left untidy by poorly managed household waste. While commercially managed student accommodation blocks are less prone to those problems, they raise other issues.

The first is that they increase the overall number of students in the district, which is likely to mean more people circulating on the streets at night when other residents are trying to sleep.

Residents living in and around Hampton Park, which is about 250 metres from the St Joseph’s site, have long complained about being woken up by groups on the street. For them, noisy night-time behaviour is a particular risk because Cotham Hill is a mixed residential and commercial area with pubs and restaurants, some of which stay open until late.

'Car-Free'

Another concern is car parking. Despite the university telling its students not to bring a car to Bristol, many do, which adds to competition for space. Harringay says its proposed development would be “largely car free”—it plans a handful of spaces for disabled students—and that once the site is operational “contractual restrictions can be placed on occupants preventing them from keeping a car in Bristol.”

However, given a history of opposition among residents to the impact on communities of a decade of expansion by UoB—with more yet to come—Harringay may struggle to win hearts and minds.

The original poster in the Next Door debate noted how students’ exemption from council tax weakens Bristol City Council’s finances: “Shortfalls in council tax and strains in service provision are significant, and noise and waste-related anti-social behaviour from students are a constant blight.”

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