I met up with Mace’s planners today with a list of questions, derived both from others’ questions, and my own. We agreed on a scheme for getting the answers out to the public and I will do that as they are provided. (Involves Dropbox and file sharing, but never mind. I’ll publish them as I get them.)
One earnest question I had was over the Student Management Plan, which many of us have said was not fit for purpose and largely of poor quality.
I can make THREE main points.
1. I’ve requested Stuart Walker (Vale Planning Officer) to make it a condition of any eventual approval to have an approved proper SMP before occupation. Mace’s planners today essentially agreed that’s fine.
2. They tell me that usually an SMP would be developed later in the project, probably just before opening for business. The lower priority at this stage of the project has (unfortunately) led to the problems we’ve all seen in it. It isn’t a planning consideration; it was intended to reassure us that there would be a strong plan in place for managing the future tenants, and any problems that arise.
3. Where ever it says Botley Development Company (BDC or BDCL) read ‘Mace’. Mace will be running the student accommodation.