Student flats: 'Maybe we all need to go to college or university and we would be sorted' - Readers' Online Comments

Councillors have approved plans for a new 76-bed student accommodation block in London Road – and readers were quick to react.

An artist's impression of the new student housing block

Jacqueline Calder: What about the residents of Edinburgh who have lived and worked in the city and are waiting to be rehoused but there are no social housing? Maybe we all need to go to college or university and we would be sorted.

Grant McAulay: There's a huge lack of social housing and cheap housing for those trying to make it on o the property ladder.

Sotland Richard: We should rename Edinburgh Studentburgh. What about what the residents of Edinburgh? Don't we have a say in all of this?

Damien Lindsay: I’m starting to think there must be more students in Edinburgh than residents, some of them living in better accommodation than local residents.

Paul Goodwin: I agree with you about housing, social care, education but there's nothing here to suggest these areas could benefit if the council had acted differently in this case regarding privately-funded student flats.

Justin Taylor Mackenzie: When it’s too late and the council realises that a city without a long-term residential population is a dead city and no longer viable they may finally sit up and do something, but until then they are happily deluded in their utopian world where tourists and students are the key and no one else matters.

William Taylor: Students coming to live in accommodation does nothing but make money for the university – a token amount goes into the economy. And the residents of Edinburgh lose another chance to tackle the housing problem simply because the council don’t want to be housing landlords. The knock-on effect of all this student accommodation etc is the working-class people of Edinburgh are slowly getting pushed out of their own city.

Ross Attenburgh: The council can only approve whats put in front of them and it’s not their land to build council houses on. There is less money for developers to make from social housing than student accommodation, unfortunately, and as there (somehow) continues to be a demand for the latter in Edinburgh they'll keep being built.

David Blyth: If this last year has taught us anything it should be that we don't need any more students in Edinburgh.

SCHOOLS STAY OPEN

Nicola Sturgeon has said schools will remain open next week across Scotland in the run-up to despite being the rise in the number of Covid-19 cases.

Sandra Winning: As a person who works in a school this is an awful and dangerous decision – school staff will not have opportunity to have a break from people before Christmas so are left with the awful choice of seeing their loved ones for the first time in months and risking lives or missing out yet again and then mental health is hugely affected.

Jane Weir: You should try working in health and social care. At least you get a full Christmas break. Most of our staff only get a few days here or there.

Terri Hand: Why is it that school staff should get more of a break than anyone else? Everyone is in the same boat when it comes to seeing family. Pop down to your local supermarket, they’ve had no break whatsoever. If schools have a large outbreak they are able to close if they choose to. All schools closing would be ridiculous, especially primary schools. My son’s school had one case about three months ago. The class isolated and that was it. If his school closed I would have to take unpaid leave to look after him and I wouldn’t be the only one.

Kayleigh Ritchie: How does watching Christmas movies help with their education, because that’s all they do over the last few days – and that is exactly why I have removed my kids. I understand it’s not appropriate for key workers or anyone still working leading up to Christmas but surely Sturgeon could have just compromised by saying anyone who’s going to be at home and wants to remove the kids then do so. That would reduce the risk to key workers’ children and teachers who have no other choice but to be there over the last couple of days.

Sandra Lockhart: One and a half days of watching movies and playing games when they could be safely at home isolating in time to spend a day with grandparents. Many parents will be keeping them off anyway

Susan Anderson: I'm sure parents would have been delighted if children were suddenly not at school at short notice.