Controversial plans for student housing in the car park of a historic Southampton hotel building have been approved.

The Grade II*-listed Dolphin Hotel in High Street is in the process of being converted into 99 student bedrooms after change of use permission was secured last summer.

Members of Southampton City Council’s planning and rights of way panel have now given the green light to a separate proposal using land at the rear of the site, which faces onto Back of the Walls.

The redevelopment by Dolphin Hotel Property Ltd will see a block three- to six-storeys in height built, providing 162 student bedspaces across a mix of 90 studios and nine cluster flats.

Councillors considered the scheme at a meeting on Tuesday, April 1, following a referral request by Bargate ward member Cllr Sarah Bogle.

The panel heard that two previous plans for the site had been approved but not taken forward.

In 2008, a residential scheme featuring 73 flats received planning permission but it was never built out for viability reasons.

A 72-unit residential proposal with a mix of one- and two-bed flats was approved in 2021, however, this permission lapsed.

A planning officer told councillors the plans for purpose-built student accommodation could be adapted to residential housing as a mix of studios, one-, two- and three-bed flats if the demand fell away.

One of the main objections was a perceived over concentration of student accommodation in the local area.

READ MORE: Decision made on plans to turn historic hotel into student flats

Ros Casey, of Old Town Community Forum, said this was a “serious long-term problem” for Southampton which needed to be addressed.

She said there were concerns about pressures on GP surgeries and asked for assurance that funding would be provided.

Ms Casey said: “If you take the public at large rather than just the students, the students may benefit but the public at large I think will not and that’s the very strong view of the community here – that more and more large scale developments are going towards students rather than family or professional people’s housing.”

The Dolphin Hotel, which is believed to be Southampton’s oldest hotel, is said to have welcomed many famous guests in its heyday, including Jane Austen, Queen Victoria and Admiral Lord Nelson.

Cllr Pat Evemy, community heritage champion on the council, asked if losing the car park would scupper the aspiration of the Dolphin Hotel returning to a hotel at some point in the future.

Planning agent Sarah Beuden, of Savills, said it was a car-free development, which would have a dedicated drop off and pick up point.

She told the panel that the loss of car parking would not preclude the Dolphin returning to a hotel in the future.

Applicant John Steven said he had been involved in the Dolphin for more than 20 years.

“My view is that the scheme makes really good use of an undeveloped car parking space at the moment,” Mr Steven said.

“The student accommodation is a requirement in the city.

“I personally think it works really well in that area.”

Cllr Bogle said her main issues were the need to respect the site’s historic setting, ensuring the public pathway through the site was maintained to a high standard and challenging if there was evidence for the student demand in the city.

Members of the planning and rights of way panel were split on the application.

Cllr Ginnie Lambert said: “I would like these plans referred back to the developer so they revise them so that they would clearly be hotel accommodation if the market failed rather than residential.”

Increasing the supply of purpose-built student accommodation could decrease demand for houses in multiple occupation and release bigger homes for family use, Cllr Christian Cox said.

Cllr Sue Blatchford said it was “really disappointing” the lapsed scheme for housing was not delivered.

“It’s this aspect of yet more purpose built student accommodation in the same old, same old blocky type building which suits that form of accommodation as opposed to something innovative, designed to set itself well within the rear of the building and actually give some form of contribution, character and distinctiveness to the back of Dolphin Hotel,” Cllr Blatchford said.

Cllr Beccy Greenhalgh said the hotel industry was “dying” so it was unlikely that the Dolphin would have any viability of being turned back into a hotel.

Chair Cllr Vivienne Windle said the panel was not revisiting the decision it made last year on the Dolphin Hotel.

Councillors approved the application with four votes in favour, two against and one abstention.

The planning permission included a requirement to provide, retain and maintain the public route through the site, known as Dolphin Lane.