Another council is planning a crackdown on HMOs \u2013 but this is not the usual Labour or Conservative bid to restrict parts of the private rental sector.<\/p>\n
This is Newcastle-under-Lyme council, where Reform UK has a big majority.<\/p>\n
A statement released by the authority at the weekend says it\u2019s investigating imposing an Article 4 Direction across the entire council area to control HMOs.<\/p>\n
If implemented, anyone wanting to turn a residential property into shared housing, or HMOs, would need permission from the council.<\/p>\n
Councillor Vanessa Renshaw says: \u201cAs Cabinet Member for Housing and Public Protection, my priority is to make sure vulnerable local residents come first.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThat includes homeless veterans, women and children fleeing domestic violence, and others who need safe accommodation, proper safeguards and the right wraparound support to help them rebuild their lives.<\/p>\n
\u201cSupported accommodation can play an important role when it is delivered properly and by responsible providers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBut there must be stronger oversight of housing standards, safeguarding, support provision and the wider impact on local neighbourhoods.<\/p>\n
\u201cResidents deserve confidence that this type of accommodation is being run safely, responsibly and with the right protections in place for both those living there and the communities around them.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Without an Article 4 Directive, houses can have up to six unrelated people living there without planning permission.<\/p>\n
The Article 4 directive can be applied to control the concentration of such properties in a specific area or \u2013 as is being investigated now \u2013 can be applied on a borough-wide basis.<\/p>\n
The council say too many HMOs in an area can place pressures on on-street parking and traffic, waste facilities, potentially increase noise and mean a reduction in the numbers of families living there.<\/p>\n
Any planning application for conversion of a property to an HMO would be considered on a case-by-case basis.<\/p>\n
Jonathan Gullis \u2013 the former Conservative MP who is now Reform UK\u2019s leader of Newcastle-under-Lyme council and in charge of planning, adds: \u201cFor too long, laws made in Westminster have allowed family homes to be turned into small HMOs without planning permission, without proper local scrutiny, and without residents having a meaningful say.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know what can happen when badly managed HMOs are allowed to spread unchecked: anti-social behaviour, pressure on local services, and streets losing the family character that made people want to live there in the first place.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhilst the government has slowly begun to empty some asylum hotels, the reality is that too often the problem is simply being moved into communities through social housing, HMOs and Home Office contractor accommodation, with little or no community consent or consultation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI will not allow Newcastle-under-Lyme to be treated as a dumping ground.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cA borough wide Article 4 Direction is a legal power we can use to take back control.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is about protecting residents, preserving the character of our neighbourhoods, and ensuring communities across Newcastle-under-Lyme have a real voice in decisions that affect them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Another council is planning a crackdown on HMOs \u2013 but this is not the usual Labour or Conservative…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":53237,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[12869,14,26244,5,6],"class_list":["post-53236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-uk","tag-hmos","tag-politics","tag-regional-insights","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116672071119312655","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53236\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}