Opposition members want to limit an ‘over-concentration’ of the properties
Any plans to turn a house into a HMO would have to seek planning permission (Image: Peter Byrne/PA Wire)
The increase of houses of multiple occupation (HMO) is causing “major tension” for people living in south Liverpool who should be given more of a say on where they can be placed, it has been claimed. Earlier this year, hundreds of campaigners in Aintree Village called for residents to have more influence over properties being used for HMOs in their area.
Their objections managed to convince Sefton Council to propose a legal order to limit the number of houses being changed in the village. Powers were laid down by Liverpool Council four years ago to restrict where HMOs could be used across the city, focusing mainly in the north and city centre.
Now the city’s opposition Liberal Democrats have launched a petition urging the local authority to widen the zone it implemented in 2021 restricting the number of HMO developments. Cllr Andrew Makinson compared the increasing number of properties being amended as “like a balloon, you squeeze one bit and it expands elsewhere.”
Last summer, objections were submitted to Sefton Council regarding a proposed development which sought to use permitted planning legislation for an HMO in Aintree. Permitted planning means planning permission can be granted without the requirement for approval from the local planning authority. This means that any change of use from a dwelling house to a small House in Multiple Occupation can occur without the need for planning permission and the council has no control over which properties are used.
This has now led to the authority proposing an Article 4 legal order to limit an “over-concentration” of HMOs in future. Four years ago, planning rules were adopted to control the amount of HMOs in Liverpool City Centre, Toxteth, Dingle, Anfield, Kensington and parts of Wavertree.
Cllr Makinson, who represents the Allerton ward, said communities had become “alarmed” by the number of family homes being converted.
He said: “The one that’s most recently been in my ward was on Rose Lane. It was just a two-bed terraced house that had been converted into a six-bedroom HMO and because we’re out of the zone, it appears on the planning application list as a permitted development.
Liberal Democrat Andrew Makinson
“That gives people the impression they’ve got a say and they send objections in. It’s just about whether the internal design has been done properly and the forms are correct, people don’t get a say about the issues of parking, which is a particular problem.
“We highlighted there are only half as many parking spaces around Rose Lane as there are houses already so this has been a major tension for people. With small terraced houses, there isn’t enough space for the bins that you would require for effectively six separate households.”
The petition set out how HMOs can become a “nightmare” for those living alongside. It said: “Often streets are unable to cope with the extra parking, fly tipping and rats can increase as there is not space for enough bins to cope with the additional occupiers.”
Cllr Makinson added: “This has been caused by the zone that’s been set up in part of the city so developers are thinking, we’ll move out of that zone where no red tape can stop us. It’s like a balloon, you squeeze one bit and it expands elsewhere.
“What we’re saying is make this zone citywide so that people have an equal say in their communities on the impact of these HMOs and the planning officers have the powers to look at the issues to see if an HMO is appropriate for the location.”
In a discussion at a cabinet meeting last week, Cllr Nick Small, cabinet member for growth and economy, said while the draft local plan for Liverpool had “quite strong policies on that” there would be an increase of HMOs in future. He said: “We want to restrict that but there will be some new HMOs across the city.”
The draft plan – which will shape the future development direction of the city into 2041 – described HMOs as an “an essential part of Liverpool’s housing stock to meet a diverse range of housing needs” but recognised “poor quality developments and the cumulative impact of excessive concentrations of specific groups can harm the character and amenity of the wider neighbourhood.”
The document aims to “manage the distribution and concentration of HMOs within Liverpool, promoting sustainable, balanced communities and safeguarding the character and amenity of residential areas.”
