Student flats plan could completely transform the view from Northampton's Harborough Road

The 385-room accommodation would be built at the Bective Works site in Bective Road, Kingsthorpe and would see a partial demolition of the buildings. New shop units aimed at students would also be part of the site.

Subject to several different plans over the last 10 years, the site has planning consent for flats already, but the new scheme increases the number of bedrooms.

And, assuming it is approved by Northampton Borough Council, the new structure is set to transform views from the Harborough Road shops.

A council document for Pelican Real Estate on behalf of the applicant says: "Design of the new development is a positive improvement on the extant scheme.

"It represents a less dominating feature within the street-scene by maintaining gaps and views through the site between Bective and Yelvertoft Road.

The previous scheme included continuous built-up frontage and habitable roof space. The scheme now proposed presents considerably less bulk."

Aside from the transformation of the Kingsthorpe street scene, the planning consultants claim the flats could well reduce the large number of Houses in Multiple Occupancy (HiMO) applications in certain areas of Northampton. Such conversions of existing family homes are proving unpopular among residents of Far Cotton, which is the closest area to Waterside Campus.

The document says: "Socially, the development will ease pressure on the local housing market to accommodate students.

"A HiMO study confirms that the average HiMO is for 4 persons. Therefore the increase in bedspaces on the application site over and above the previous approval would be the equivalent of 22 dwellings being kept free for general purpose market housing in Northampton.

"In this context, the sustainability of the proposed development and its indirect contribution towards housing supply should be afforded significant weight."