UPDATE: The public are going to get a chance to see more of the proposals, which are at a pre-application stage, at a consutlation event to take place on the ground floor of Maritime Studios in Pendennis Rise between 3pm and 6pm on Thursday, May 19.

The company which owns Maritime Studios in Falmouth has announced plans to create a further 287 student beds on the nearby Ocean Bowl site.

Empiric Student Property plc has exchanged contracts to acquire, subject to planning, the freehold of the site on Pendennis Rise, at a cost of £2.3 million. The company is in the process of applying for planning permission for a 287 bed, premium student accommodation development on the site.

It is proposed the scheme would be made up of two buildings, one a mix of studios and two and three bed apartments, and the other a combination of four and six bed town houses. It would be developed in two phases, the first to be completed in time for the 2017/18 academic year and the second phase in time for the 2018/19 academic year.

Just along the road, Maritime Studios comprises 146 large, self-contained studio apartments, with communal facilities, - the freehold of which are owned by Empiric. Fourteen of the studios have been sold off on long leases, resulting in 132 beds under Empiric's ownership.

Paul Hadaway, chief executive of Empiric Student Property plc, said: "This is the group's second acquisition in Falmouth, which is undergoing a significant increase in student numbers as a result of Falmouth University's growth plans and has a limited supply of new purpose-built student accommodation. This acquisition is in line with Empiric's investment criteria and returns profile."

The Packet revealed in March that the Ocean Bowl site had been earmarked for student accommodation and is one of four sites that has been identified by the universities for student housing. People living in Pendennis Rise and Castle Drive have already expressed their horror at the prospect of another student development being built on their doorstep.

Resident Susan Lewis said at the time: "If the university wants to place itself there, then we are under threat. We knew that building would probably change one day because it is just prefabricated, but feel if it's to be developed could it not be for students but for something more in keeping with what is here already - maybe affordable housing, maybe elderly people's residences?

"We do not want to say nothing should happen, but feel the university has taken on more than it originally planned and that gradually it is taking over Falmouth and we are becoming concreted in."