The University of Buckingham has filed a planning application with Buckinghamshire Council to convert the Best Western Buckingham Hotel into temporary student accommodation.
The hotel has 71 guest rooms, two meeting rooms, a bar, restaurant, kitchen and a separate two-storey staff accommodation block with 12 rooms. There are 107 car-parking spaces.
The university plans to use all rooms in the hotel as student accommodation, with the existing restaurant to provide catering. The university said its existing accommodation is at full capacity and there is a critical need for temporary accommodation while a longer-term solution is found.
The application seeks permission for a temporary change of use from a hotel to catered student accommodation along with occasional conferencing and events space for the University of Buckingham.
Planning documents on EG Radius said the university has leased the hotel from the current owner, Beales Hotel.
According to the planning statement submitted by the university, the hotel has been closed to the public since September 2022 when it was taken over by the government to provide emergency accommodation for asylum seekers. The agreement with the government is shortly coming to end.
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