An Ormskirk councillor is actively driving to re-balance housing in the town centre and is currently focusing his attentions on providing high quality accommodation for students on campus, whilst freeing up town centre properties for local families and first-time buyers.

While the actual number of students at the university has reduced in recent years, there has been a significant increase in those choosing to study at Edge Hill also wanting to live on or near the campus, says Gareth Dowling.

This has led to local and out-of-town landlords snapping up properties in the area for conversion to Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) and leaving very few homes available for local young people to live in when they wish to fly the nest.

At February’s Planning Committee, chaired by Gareth, he granted the addition of 250 bed units in the centre of Edge Hill’s campus which will be a mix of halls, studio apartments and town houses.

With an increasing number of residential opportunities available on campus, the town is starting to see many HMOs left vacant, and it won’t be long before these properties are back on the market for local house hunters to buy.

Gareth said of the shift: “The expansion of the Edge Hill campus has no doubt brought benefits and issues to the local town, however, the key issue of housing demand has really impacted on local people as they struggle to move out of parents’ houses but still stay within the community in which they were raised.

“Edge Hill has planned for many years to increase the rooms on campus and as a Planning Committee we passed the most recent application with little to no objection from any local residents. This should yield great benefit by freeing up HMO properties in the town centre to be returned to family houses.

“This is important for the town centre, but just one of the many key issues I am working on, including community and public transport links, flooding and the roads network. If elected on May 4th I will continue to campaign on these matters to ensure our voice continues to be heard.”