‘Highly likely to succeed’ – Birmingham PBSA returns with appeal warning

Plans to build more student accommodation in the city centre will go back before councillors with fresh recommendations for approval – despite Birmingham City Council being ready to refuse the scheme last month.

Developer Orion Land and Development submitted proposals for a planned 16-storey development on Swallow Street in May, set to provide 263 student bedspaces as part of a slimmed down scheme on a 0.25-acre site close to New Street station.

The development had been recommended for approval by the council’s own planning officers prior to a committee meeting on 20 November.

But members turned down the proposals citing potential harm to several heritage assets, including the grade one-listed town hall and grade two-listed general post office building.

The committee instructed council officers that the application be brought back before them in December, along with cast-iron reasons for refusal for the scheme, prior to issuing a decision notice.

A report set to go before committee members on Thursday, 18 December again includes a recommendation for approval from planning officers, weeks after the applicant warned the council it would be “highly likely to succeed” on appeal in the wake of last month’s decision.

Updated information supplied by Orion Land following November’s meeting included advice from barrister Robert Walton KC, who said that in his opinion it was “plainly open” to the committee that the scheme would comply with both the development plan and the NPPF.

Walton said the impact of the development would be overridden by the “clear and compelling” need for purpose-built student accommodation(PBSA) in the city – and warned that government inspectors were likely to see it the same way.

“Whilst great weight must of course be given to the impact the scheme would have on the significance of the Town Hall and the GPO… an appeal inspector would be very likely to conclude that this impact is justified by reference to the scheme’s public benefits including, but not limited to, the need for further PBSA in the City,” he wrote.

As part of a submission which will be heard by councillors at Thursday’s planning meeting, the applicant argues that the scheme’s benefits are “significant and demonstrably outweigh the harm identified.”

“Both our submissions, and the Council’s own evidence base, demonstrate that there is a clear and pressing need for PBSA, and this scheme will make a contribution to meeting that need,” added an updated submission prepared by planning consultants Avison Young.

The application will be discussed again at the city council’s planning committee on Thursday, 18 December.

Documents relating to the scheme can be viewed on BCC’s planning portal, reference 2025/02559/PA.