Winchester University is poised to ease its student housing problems with a new hall of residence.

It is preparing plans for a 500-bed facility on Burma Road, in between the King Alfred Campus and the Royal Hampshire County Hospital.

The local healthcare trust has sold the land to the university and a planning application for the five-block residence is due soon.

The development, due to open in 2012-2013, is the latest step by the university to bring students away from local estates such as Stanmore.

Tommy Geddes, pro vice chancellor, said: “We are trying to accommodate more students near the campus hence the 400 beds opened in Queens Road.

“Queens Road opened in September and 400 students are living there who otherwise would be living in the private rented sector. Burma Road will house another 350.”

Of the 500 beds, around 100 will be for students at Sparsholt College and 50 will be let to the RHCH.

Mr Geddes said the development would benefit Stanmore: “It will affect not just ‘studentification’ but also release these homes again for non-students.”

The influx into Stanmore in the last ten years has been a highly controversial issue as owners have let to students rather than local people. Student cars have also clogged the streets of the estate.

He said the initial feedback from City of Winchester Trust has been positive.

The Queens Road blocks had been controversial as residents in Milnthorpe Lane said it towered over their homes. The Burma Road development is away from private homes.

The development will be undertaken by Geoffrey Osborne, the firm who built the award-winning University Centre in 2006-07.