North Yorkshire Council approves conversion of Scarborough town centre shop into 11-bed HMO despite residents’ concerns

North Yorkshire Council has approved the conversion of a vacant shop unit and its upper floors into an 11-bed HMO.

The application for the four-storey building at 20/20A Victoria Road in Scarborough was submitted by West Park Property Developments Ltd.

Planning officers said that as the building had fallen into disrepair and would require “significant investment to retain the ground floor retail unit”, its conversion would “not be detrimental to the viability or vitality of the town centre”.

However, members of the public raised concerns about a “clustering of HMOs in the area” as well as disputing the figures of existing HMOs in the area which were presented in the application submission.

One resident highlighted “the lack of desirability for further HMOs given that the building could be converted into more needed family homes or flats”.

Council policy supports the creation of HMOs in cases where approval does not lead to “10 per cent of properties within a 100m radius of the application site being used as HMOs”.

Planning officers reported that while “there are several properties on Victoria Road which are used as HMOs”, approval would not exceed the 10 per cent restriction within a 100m radius.

A report states: “Two [HMOs] fall within 100m of the application site, resulting in a total number of three which falls under the 10 per cent restriction.”

The Local Highway Authority had initially objected to the scheme based on the lack of parking provision on site, but after the applicant stated that “90 per cent of the tenants would not require parking provision”, the objection was withdrawn.

Planning officers also concluded that the development is acceptable in terms of impact on amenity “subject to the management plan being strictly adhered to”.

The conversion was approved on Friday, November 3, subject to a condition requiring adherence to the management plan “for the lifetime of the development”.