{"id":515098,"date":"2025-10-20T19:14:59","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T19:14:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/515098\/"},"modified":"2025-10-20T19:14:59","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T19:14:59","slug":"eight-bedroom-hmo-plans-for-former-bootle-pub","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/515098\/","title":{"rendered":"Eight bedroom HMO plans for former Bootle pub"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Sefton Council&#8217;s planning committee rejected an application for a change of use for the ground floor of the former pub site<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1_The-Queens-Pub-on-Knowsley-Road-Bootle-Liverpool-where-armed-police-attended.jpg\" alt=\"The Queens Pub on Knowsley Road, Bootle, Liverpool.\" loading=\"eager\"  \/>The Queens Pub on Knowsley Road, Bootle, Liverpool.(Image: Liverpool Echo)<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"liverpoolecho\">New plans for an eight-bedroom shared house at a former <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.liverpoolecho.co.uk\/all-about\/bootle\" target=\"\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Bootle<\/a> pub have stalled after concerns were raised about amenity space. The proposal was put forward by a Mr Ashraf, based in Stockport, who sought to expand the residential offer at The Queens pub building on <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.liverpoolecho.co.uk\/all-about\/knowsley\" target=\"\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Knowsley<\/a> Road to accommodate at least eight people.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"liverpoolecho\">The application to turn the property into a House of Multiple Occupation (HMO) was evaluated at <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.liverpoolecho.co.uk\/all-about\/sefton\" target=\"\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Sefton<\/a> Council\u2019s planning committee on October 15 where officers from the local authority recommended the plans to elected members.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"liverpoolecho\">The council report confirmed the proposal represented an \u201cintensification of use\u201d, but noted the first and second floors are already established as residential properties, operating as a six bedroom unit without any external amenity space.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"liverpoolecho\">The report stated: \u201cThe applicant has provided evidence that the property has been vacant for a prolonged period, and its reuse would contribute positively to the area\u2019s regeneration objectives.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"liverpoolecho\">It added: \u201cThe proposal is not expected to cause significant harm to the neighbouring residents, and is recommended for approval subject to conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"liverpoolecho\">Responding to the report, Cllr Nina Killen asked: \u201cHow would we be sure that there was a maximum of eight people living here, presumably eight tenants, but they might have partners who might move in?<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0_The-Queens-Pub-on-Knowsley-Road-Bootle-Liverpool-where-armed-police-attended.jpg\" alt=\"The Queens Pub on Knowsley Road, Bootle, Liverpool.\" loading=\"lazy\"  \/>The Queens Pub on Knowsley Road, Bootle, Liverpool.(Image: Liverpool Echo)<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"liverpoolecho\">Sefton\u2019s planning officer said: \u201cWhat we can say is that, as with anything like this, there is an element of trust and sincerity in terms of what people say they\u2019re going to do, and that\u2019s what we can legislate for.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"liverpoolecho\">\u201cBut if it is reported that there is something going on, we\u2019ve got authority to enter and investigate and apply a full range of enforcement hours to stop that and get it back to what was approved.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"liverpoolecho\">\u201cBut we can\u2019t be there every week, knocking on the door, inspecting all the rooms [\u2026] but we hopefully put enough safeguards into this, through permissions, through the management plan and the details they get approved and hope that they comply with.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"liverpoolecho\">However, after the planning application was presented to the chamber, Cllr Daniel McKee put forward a motion looking to block the proposal: \u201cI move we would reject the application of amenity space.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"liverpoolecho\">The chamber voted to carry this motion and the application was duly rejected. The terms of that rejection were subsequently uploaded to Sefton Council\u2019s planning portal on October 16.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"liverpoolecho\">The \u201cRefusal Notice\u201d read: \u201cThe proposed development fails to provide an adequate level and quality of private, usable outdoor amenity space for future occupiers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"liverpoolecho\">\u201cPoets Park is not a main park and therefore future occupiers do not have access to a park of sufficient size and quality to provide appropriate and acceptable mitigation for the absence of amenity space.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sefton Council&#8217;s planning committee rejected an application for a change of use for the ground floor of the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":515099,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8815],"tags":[2648,748,393,4884,6333,179,12460,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-515098","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-liverpool","8":"tag-bootle","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-housing","13":"tag-liverpool","14":"tag-sefton-council","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115408099696032178","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=515098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515098\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/515099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=515098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=515098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=515098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}