The UK government is proposing a change in planning law that will aim to limit the number of students living in the centres of so-called "university towns".

According to a report published last week by housing minister Caroline Flint, the government will publish a green paper later in the year that will seek to disperse student residents and prevent them from "clustering" together.

The new legislation will seek to limit the number of Houses of Multiple Occupation (HMO) licenses granted in a particular area. The cities most likely to be affected include Leeds, Nottingham and Southampton. Westminster sees "studentification" as a significant problem, especially during the summer months when communities are left dormant in the students’ absence.

Ms Flint said: “It is not acceptable that current rental practices allow unplanned student enclaves to evolve to such an extent that local communities are left living as ghost towns following the summer student exodus.

“[The] report has identified a series of proven steps councils and universities can take to reduce the dramatic effects of 'studentification', where houses of multiple occupation cluster too closely together.”

The proposals are very similar to a failed bill debated in the Scottish Parliament in early 2007. Because housing and planning are not reserved matters, the UK government’s proposals would not have a direct impact in Scotland.

However, over the last two years, Edinburgh City Council has been operating HMO restrictions in the capital. So called “sensitive” areas such as Marchmont, Southside and Tollcross are subject to a 30 per cent cap on HMO densities.

Such plans were subject to large-scale protest from Edinburgh students under the Right to Rent campaign organised by former Edinburgh University Students’ Association (EUSA) president, Josh MacAlister.

Speaking in April last year, Mr MacAlister said: “HMOs are a vital source of housing given that there are so many problems with the availability of places to live in Edinburgh.

"If HMO properties are limited then it will increase demand – forcing up rents and driving down standards in the private rented sector. If quotas were proposed for where any other group of people could or couldn't live it would be totally unacceptable."