'Planning system is failing our town due to HMO conversions' warn councillors
Councillors have reiterated calls for greater regulation of Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) in Scarborough.
Scarborough town councillors have said that more needs to be done to regulate the number of HMOs in the resort and have called on North Yorkshire Council to introduce additional controls.
“The town must come first and we therefore respectfully ask the Area Committee to support Scarborough Town Council in taking this matter forward with North Yorkshire Council and to work towards the introduction of an appropriate Article 4 direction for C3 to C4 conversions in Scarborough,” said Reform’s councillor William Stuart at a meeting on Thursday, September 17.
Proposals for an Article 4 direction – which would remove normal permitted development rights and require full planning permission to turn a single-family home into a small shared house for three to six people – were previously backed at a full meeting of the Reform-led town council.
A draft letter discussed at a committee meeting on Thursday highlighted “failures” in the planning system and that the issue requires further consideration by North Yorkshire Council.
The letter stated: “There are currently 130 properties on the register covering the former Scarborough Borough Council area.
“Of these, 115 – 89 per cent – are in Scarborough town itself.
"Of those 115 properties, 61 – more than half – are C4 HMOs accommodating five or six people.
“These properties have been converted from ordinary residential use to C4 HMOs without requiring planning permission, and that route remains available for further conversions.”
It added: “There are now clear examples in Scarborough where the current planning framework is failing to prevent the type of concentration those principles were intended to address.
“We recognise that the Scarborough and Whitby Area Committee has an important role in representing local concerns and in acting as a ‘critical friend’ to policy makers and decision makers.”
Labour’s Chris Clark warned colleagues about overreach and noted that HMOs could be a useful asset in certain areas.
He said: “The point I would like to make is that other counties have introduced the concept of Article 4 zones, so that they don’t go and paint themselves into a corner, but an HMO is a good idea next to the university.
“I generally support much of what has been proposed, and I admire the research Coun Stuart has done.
“My suggestions would be to avoid the overreach, to actually specify the areas in which you desperately need an Article 4.”
He added: “I think that would make the argument more powerful, because we’re avoiding overreach, we’re intelligently explaining the real problem we have got, and I agree with you, we’ve got a problem, and at the same time we’re showing that we’re not doing a land grab or anything like that.”
Labour councillor Chris Head added: “If it wasn’t for HMOs, many of us would have had nowhere to live, probably where we were studying, at university.
“So there have to be HMOs somewhere; otherwise, how are we going to be able to do that sort of thing?”