Dozens of hmos in pill causing community pressure, local councillor declares

Dozens of HMOs in Pill are piling pressure on the community and “enough is enough”, a local councillor has declared.
Cllr Debbie Jenkins said a proliferation of HMOs in the Newport neighbourhood was “causing a lot of anxiety” for its residents.
Speaking at a city council planning committee meeting, on Wednesday, she said there were 53 registered HMOs in her ward, amounting to a “massive overconcentration”.
The figure does not include unregistered or unlicensed properties, which she said were the focus of ongoing work by local police and the council.
Cllr Jenkins was speaking in opposition to an application for a new HMO conversion at 147 Commercial Road – a street where, she claimed, there are already 12 such properties.
Her ward colleague, Cllr Saeed Adan, said in writing that another HMO would “add to the existing pressures of an increased population density and disturbing changes in the demographic composition of Pillgwenlly”.
“This would unfavourably impact the quality of life for existing residents,” he added.
HMOs (houses in multiple occupation) are typically properties for individual, unrelated adults who have their own bedrooms but share other communal areas such as kitchens, bathrooms or living rooms.
Councils tend to place restrictions on the number of HMOs in any given area, and in Pill the threshold is 15% in a 50-metre radius.
Planning applications for HMOs regularly draw the ire of existing residents, typically over fears they will change the character of the area.
Newport City Council’s own planning guidance states that “clusters of HMOs can alter the composition of a community and detract from local visual amenity”.
On the other hand, HMOs provide much needed accommodation for single adults and are also suitable for densely populated neighbourhoods.
In this case, the application was to convert a three-bedroom flat above 147 Commercial Road into a HMO for five people.
In a planning statement, applicant Nagra Homes Ltd said the “substantial” property, if converted, would “meet the needs of the community” and would give its future occupants “easy access” to local shops and facilities.
Council planning officers had recommended the application be approved, noting there was only one other HMO within a 50-metre radius.
But committee members were unhappy with the proposals for parking and the HMO’s impact on nearby residents.
The application included proposals for on-street parking, but a council highways officer deemed there to be “insufficient” provision in the daytime.
Cllr John Reynolds told colleagues it was “so frustrating that common sense seems to be overridden by very rigid planning” rules.
Pill has “a huge concentration of HMOs”, he added, and if there was another such property 51 metres away “we would have to pretend it’s not there”.
Cllr Tim Harvey said that if the committee approved the application “without parking, we are setting a precedent for other HMOs”.
The committee voted to refuse planning permission, citing the “impact on highway safety given [a] shortfall in parking”, and the “impact on residential amenity given [the property’s] relationship with a neighbouring wall”. ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

By BBC LDRS ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​