Student high-rise developers set to be given extended deadline

Conservationists were among the original objectors to the building at Anderson Wharf, close to the Grade I listed Charterhouse building.

Planning permission was granted two years ago, but since then there has been no development on the site, which is now used as a car park.

However Hull Council's first planning committee of 2011 will decide whether to award a three-year extension of planning permission and also whether to allow the site to continue to be used as a car park.

But the former chairman of planning, Coun John Fareham, said the policy of setting time limits was "fast becoming a joke since not one deadline seems to have been kept" and there was no need for extra accommodation given that the Government's policy was driving a reduction in student numbers.

In a submission to planners, Coun Fareham said: "The matter was controversial and last time of determination the then committee just favoured practical expediency over the, at best, neutral aesthetic advantages.

"The committee was told there was a demand for this and that was why they invited developers to put their money where their mouths are and gave a limited-time application.

"The policy of time limits is fast becoming a joke since not one deadline seems to have been kept and in the case of this application it should.

"With the indications of a shift in Government policy leading all commentators to suggest a reduction in the number of people, this building is supposed to be for there is a very real chance this will become another block of flats."

Five others have written letters objecting to what one described as a "1960s high-rise building", which would be too big and too high, blocking light to neighbouring residents.

There are also complaints about the infilling of the cobbled path leading down to the River Hull where residents of the Charterhouse once got their water.

Developers say poor economic conditions are to blame for the lack of progress. They claimed that they intended to be on site at the end of last year, adding: "Since then the economic recession has taken force and the development cannot be carried out in the current economic climate."

Planners have checked the status of the car park, and found it has been used more than developers claim, with just under 180 vehicles parked in November. Drivers – many from nearby Hull College which lost some car parking because of redevelopment – are charged 2.50 a day, far less than nearby council-run car parks.

Objectors to the car park include petroleum company JR Rix and Sons. One commentator stated it is a "cheap car park provided at a low standard that is inappropriate in the city centre and detracts from the adjacent conservation area and listed buildings".

However, 32 users have written letters of support, saying it is convenient and the council "shouldn't try to monopolise car parking in the city at high rates".

Planners are recommending both the student accommodation and the use of the site for car parking is approved. They have claimed the student accommodation is unlikely to happen in the near future and giving permission to the developers for two years to carry on using the site as a car park "is not considered a significant obstacle to regeneration".

The accommodation would consist of 104 apartments with 478 rooms and parking for 13 cars.

The Charterhouse was founded on its present site in 1384 by Michael de la Pole, first Earl of Suffolk. The father of the poet Andrew Marvell was a Master of the Charterhouse and as a boy the poet played under a mulberry tree that still stands in the communal garden.