Proposed City of Edinburgh Council Moratorium on PBSA
In June 2025, Cllr Danny Aston moved a motion to investigate an opportunity to ban purpose-built student accommodation in Edinburgh. As a result, the Council were requested to prepare a report exploring the option which is on the agenda for Planning Committee on 10th September.
The report concludes that the moratorium cannot be supported and would be inappropriate as this would be contrary to Development Plan Policy. This is a sensible recommendation from the planning officers given the current policy position as it relates to PBSA development.
The report acknowledges that both NPF4 and City Plan 2030 have policies which support the development of PBSA. These policies are as follows; NPF4 Policy 16 (Quality Homes) criterion C (part vii) which supports the developments of homes for people who are undertaking further and higher education, City Plan policy HOU 5 (Student Accommodation) which sets out criteria where PBSA may be accepted and City Plan policy ECON 2 (Commercial Development) which defines PBSA as a commercial development and sets out where commercial development should also provide housing.
The report states that City Plan 2030 does not have a policy provision for implementing a moratorium, the Council would not be legally able to create any new supplementary guidance which allow such policy provision as it was abolished by the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019. The report further acknowledges a decline in oversea student enrolments, however, it is not clear if this decline will be a long-term trend. The report states that this will be monitored closely moving forward. A change in trend may lead to review of the LDP policy/guidance on student accommodation as City Plan 3 emerges by 2028.
The report states a Moratorium on PBSA development (city wide or on certain areas) would be inappropriate as it would be contrary to the current development plan. The report reiterates that there is no clear trend of significant decline of student enrolment numbers at higher education or further education facilities in Edinburgh. Further, it is acknowledged there was no effective Moratorium imposed by Glasgow City Council. Instead, the development of PBSA was controlled by an adopted Supplementary Guidance to impose narrow restrictions on specific area of the City.
The report recommends, further and more up to date evidence is assessed through the Evidence Report stage of City Plan 2040 (emerging Development Plan) to have a clear view of trends. Through this, the Student Accommodation policies would be reviewed and updated should this be appropriate. It is noted that the Development Scheme for City Plan 2040 is also going to the 10th September meeting which sets out timeframes for preparing City Plan 2040.
Link to Planning Committee Web Page – Agenda for Planning Committee on Wednesday, 10th September, 2025, 2.00 pm – Modern Council
