Residents in Leamington's Old Town may have 24 new student neighbours, if proposals for a new student block are approved.
An application was previously refused by Warwick District Council's planning committee to build the two-storey building on currently unused land behind Llewellyn Road.
Now the matter has come up again, councillors were more welcoming of the develo
pment.
Leamington town councillor Bill Evans said: "We probably have our fill of student housing, but if we are going to have it, I would rather see it in organised hostels.
"A student hostel is much better for our area than students taking over more and more low-cost housing for the community."
But he added: "The town council planning committee is trying to arrange a meeting with Warwick University's accommodation officer, because we think Leamington has a disproportionate number of students now.
"There is space around the university where they could have more residential accommodation.
"People have said that Leamington is a university town without the university. We have so many students, but they don't join in local events, they don't vote - they seem to be just a bit of a dead weight in the community."
District councillor Jane Knight (Lab, Leamington Brunswick) said: "I think it's a good thing because having a student hostel is a lot better than student housing.
"You get a lot of landlords who manipulate the student population, but this sort of organised housing prevents that."
Coun Knight attended a community meeting at Shrubland Street Primary School last week, to which many students as well as police, councillors and residents turned up.
She said: "We were saying that it would be good to get the students and community to work together, for example with volunteering.
"Most of us are students at some point and they have to live somewhere. A dialogue between students and other residents can prevent problems like not following instructions about refuse collections."
A planning application for the site is likely to be put forward in March and details will be listed on the district council's website at
www.warwickdc.gov.uk/wdc under the planning section.
Whitnash company JS Trading has put forward an application to change a property in Earl Street, Leamington, to a student house.
The company's previous proposal to turn the unit - which housed offices and a store - into two holiday apartments to let was refused in October 2007, due to Warwick District Council's temporary ban on allowing for new housing to be built in the district at that time.
Houses in multiple occupation are exempt from the ban.
Warwick University's student's union spokesman Mike Pidgeon said: "The comments made by Coun Evans paint an inaccurate and untrue picture of students in Leamington.
"This year alone, hundreds of students have given up their time to volunteer in local schools, as well as on hundreds of other projects throughout Leamington.
