PLANS to house more than 50 students at the heart of Durham are facing mounting opposition.

3R Land and Property and Q Student want to build a six-storey accommodation block for 56 students just off the city’s Market Place.

The 13.5m-high building would comprise 13 “cluster” flats and five studio flats plus communal facilities, built on a 400sq metre plot to the rear of 21 Market Place, between the Market Hall and Leonard’s coffee house and fronting onto Back Silver Street. The land is currently vacant except for some garages.

Q Student, which would manage the accommodation, already has 61 student properties in the city and 20 years’ experience in the industry.

In a statement to Durham County Council, the firm said: “We take great pride in providing quality accommodation for Durham University students.

“Our ethos is to create a friendly, approachable environment and feel ourselves to be understand of the pressures of student life alongside the need for there to be a good, respectful Town and Gown relationship between our tenants and the wider Durham community.”

The developers say the flats, three with three bedrooms, eight with four and two with five, would be aimed at undergraduates, while the one-bedroom studios would be more for postgraduates. There would be 15 cycle spaces, but no car parking facilities.

Since a planning application was submitted to the council last month, several objections have emerged, including from Peter Smith, of student landlord Bill Free Homes who owns property at nearby Clements Wharf, who said the block would be “tower like”.

Douglas Pocock, from the City of Durham Trust, said Durham did not need more student accommodation and the building would be too high and affect views of the World Heritage Site.

The police, highways department and others have also raised concerns. Public consultation was held in February.

County councillor Nigel Martin said: “If this site is to be re-developed it would be much better to have flats for regular accommodation.

“It is centrally located, not far from the bus and train stations and central for the city.”

A previous proposal to build student accommodation on the site from 2008 was approved on appeal but never went ahead.

More information can be found online at durham.gov.uk/planning using the reference DM/15/01101/FPA and a council planning committee is expected to discuss the scheme this summer.