Tottenham Hotspur had previously won approval for 72 residential flats and a cinema on the site but will now build 287 student bedrooms instead, reports Grace Howarth, Local Democracy Reporter

Aerial view of the vision for the new Printworks scheme

Revised plans to build student flats instead of residential units on a former printworks site in Tottenham have been approved by councillors despite a series of concerns being raised.

In a planning committee meeting yesterday (Monday 11th) applicants Tottenham Hotspur Football Club laid out plans for 287 “student bedspaces” in blocks up to six storeys high at 819-829 Tottenham High Road.

Less than a year ago, Spurs won permission for a residential development providing 72 homes, together with the new cinema, at the same site.

Councillors voiced concern over the changed plans, enquiring why Tottenham Hotspur had “turned their back” on the initial proposal.

Spurs said they had attempted to speak to several potential operators as they wanted to retain the cinema, but talks coincided with the pandemic and despite two-and-a-half years of conversation no deal materialised.

A planning agent for Spurs told Monday’s meeting: “When the conversation ended it was quite a tough world for cinema operators generally, at the same time we responded to interest for student accommodation from the university presence in the borough.”

The University of Middlesex, University College London, Queen Mary University of London, University of the Arts, and City University all sit within 40 minutes of the site.

Committee members Alexandra Worrell and Emine Ibrahim questioned whether the planned student accommodation would help reduce housing demand in the borough and said they doubted it would reduce pressure for houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) given the differing price points.

Cllr Ibrahim said: “What a student pays for in their HMO is very different than purpose-built accommodation. This scheme would not attract the same people, it will probably attract better-off students.”

Rob Krzyszowski, assistant director for planning, building standards and sustainability for Haringey Council, said the cabinet had used a strategic housing market assessment (SHMA), an “evidence-based document”, in deciding whether to recommend the scheme be approved.

Revised plans for the Printworks site in Tottenham (credit F3 Architects)

He said the SHMA was produced to inform housing strategy and, although it did not mention HMOs, it talked about student housing and clarified that student bed spaces counted towards housing supply and represented housing numbers being met.

The planning agent for Spurs added that they hoped the proposal would ease demand for HMOs, but there could be no guarantees.

Commitee member Cathy Brennan queried whether “housing allowance equated to housing need” as many of the students would also be making use of a parent’s home, implying they were not the target when it came to housing need.

In response, Rob Krzyszowski referenced the London Plan which was published in 2021 and raised the council’s annual housing target to 1,592. He said it stated that student accommodation counted towards meeting housing targets on the basis of a 2.5:1 ratio, with two-and-a-half bedrooms being counted as a single home.

Following a discussion on the plan’s “inadequate” provision of disability car parking spaces, committee member John Bevan requested an amendment be made for two extra spaces. He said: “This development has 287 student places; I consider one disabled parking space to be grossly inadequate and I would make an amendment that one be increased to three.”

However, councillors then voted against the amendment. Following further discussion, the committee then voted to approve planning permission.

Earlier on during the planning committee meeting, a proposal to create a new wetlands at Chesnuts Park, described as a “sustainable drainage basin”, was also approved. It is intended to help prevent flooding of nearby residential properties and boost biodiversity in the park.

The plan received 27 objections, however, including claims it was too big for the park, the location was inappropriate, it would reduce usable open space, and could cause odour.

Residents present said they had been “on board” with early discussions around the wetlands, but believed the plan needed changes as they didn’t think it would reduce flooding. In response planning officers said the design had mitigated any risks and councillors voted to approve it.

Another proposal by Tottenham Hotspur, to amend a previously approved plan for a 23-storey hotel next to its stadium and increase it to 29 storeys, was also discussed at Monday’s planning committee meeting – with councillors waiving through the taller but “more slender” hotel proposal.

The hotel was previously approved in 2016 as part of the original plans for the overall stadium complex, but work had yet to commence on it.

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