A family home can be turned into a shared house after councillors narrowly voted for a planning application – despite dozens of objections from neighbours.
Those opposed to the plans included 29 Coldean residents, the Coldean Neighbourhood Planning Forum and all three councillors for the area.
They all asked Brighton and Hove City Council to turn down the application submitted by Henry Dorman, on behalf of Rivers Birtwell, to convert the property in Talbot Crescent, Coldean.
They objected to the loss of a family home there, with claims that the community was becoming “unbalanced” because Coldean has a growing number of houses in multiple occupation (HMOs).
There were also fears that turning family homes into student housing or shared housing was undermining Coldean Primary School where pupil numbers have been falling.
Labour councillor Theresa Fowler, one of the three Hollingdean and Stanmer ward representatives, asked the council’s Planning Committee to turn down the scheme.
She said that Coldean was “suffering the consequences” of losing family homes to student housing, adding: “There is an HMO in close proximity and neighbours have to put up with parties and noise most nights which gets worse during the summer.
“There are problems with parking in the area and an HMO bringing in six cars will be a huge problem for this narrow road.”
Officials said in a report and at a meeting of the Planning Committee that there were no legal grounds to oppose the application.
The ward is covered by a rule restricting the conversion of family homes into shared houses if HMOs make up more than 10 per cent of the homes within a 50-metre radius.
But at Hove Town Hall yesterday (Wednesday 6 April) councillors were told that just one property within 50 metres was a registered HMO.
The application sought approval to build a single-storey rear extension to create a kitchen, dining room and living area, with the garage converted into a large bedroom.
Conservative councillor Carol Theobald said: “It’s unusual to have 29 residents objecting. We were told this doesn’t affect the neighbourhood. But you’ve got 29 neighbours writing in – and objections from the Coldean Neighbourhood Planning Forum. I think there is a point of concern here.”
Green councillor Marianna Ebel supported the plans because they complied with council and national planning policies.
She said: “It’s not an area like Hanover or the city centre where we have too many HMOs. From what I can see, there is a communal area, a living room, a dining area, kitchen and there’s a work station area which looks like an office set up. It’s a generous communal area and three bathrooms.”
Labour councillor Clare Moonan said that there was plenty of communal space, adding: “I do appreciate the concerns of the community but it is compliant with our policy in terms of density. That’s a problem with the policy, not with this application.”
Independent councillor Tony Janio said that it was frustrating that planning rules could override local groups such as the neighbourhood planning forum.
He said that he was abstaining as a matter of principle, adding: “I would like to see what happens if we do refuse this.
“Coldean Neighbourhood Planning Forum is against it and we can put that as one of our reasons for refusing it. The whole system is failing when officers can’t take any other points into consideration.”
Councillors voted by four to three to approve the plans.
The council don’t give a hoot it will simply be used for students like elsewhere in Brighton and stuff the residents
Yes, the problem is the council’s policy. For around a decade now it has been to build large student blocks in the mistaken view that family houses will go back from HMO to family use. Well, yet again, this shows that there is still a demand for family houses to be HMOs.
The policy needs to be reviewed. Stop approving large student blocks of housing and build what you say you want – family housing. It’s really simple, it misses the middle step of building something and hoping that something else changes (which clearly it doesn’t after years of evidence).
So councillors, stop looking just at individual cases. As seen here the issue is the policy. So change it!
This subject comes up again and again.
With all the new builds for students, people assume they will move out of their HMO’s and take up the new apartments. That is not the case.
Students on campus are kicked off after one or two years and will be taking on these new builds. The Universities are taking on more and more numbers each year so the requirement for where they will go after the first two years grows and grows year on year.
Eastbourne is closing at some point and you can bet some will be coming to Brighton, not all of course will want to stay here, but how many will drive in ? Causing more congestion and parking problems.
Our council don’t have a clue, they will continue to allow these schemes, introduce more and more parking restrictions, continue to narrow our roads, allow more student buildings to go up and blame everyone else for their sheer incompetence. They have strangled this city.
Sod the locals and unfortunate who need bigger housing or even a place to live, provided the students are housed and feeding greedy landlords everything else is irrelevant.
I have nothing personally against students, but ffs, when is it going to stop. Enough is enough. Time for other people to have somewhere to live.
This is what happens when you let the loonies run the asylum.