A crackdown on the number of shared houses in Brighton and Hove is taking too long for Moulsecoomb and Bevendean residents.
At a Neighbourhood Action Plan (NAP) meeting, council planning officers said that proposed new controls on houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) would be the toughest in the country if they go through.
But there was an angry reaction from many at the meeting yesterday (Wednesday 8 August) because if the controls are agreed, they will not take effect until 2021.
In the meantime more family homes are being turned into student houses in the area.
Moulsecoomb resident Wayne Metcalf said: “The way things are going we will have no community.”
Mr Metcalf said that his home was almost surrounded by HMOs.
Residents concerned about their community spoke about two HMOs approved at Brighton and Hove City Council’s most recent Planning Committee meeting, last month, at 58 Staplefield Drive and 96 Auckland Drive.
Moulsecoomb and Bevendean’s Labour councillors Daniel Yates, Anne Meadows and Mo Marsh all wrote to object, along with people living in the area.
John Marchant, who represents East Central Moulsecoomb on the council’s housing panel for the area, said: “Do you listen to people when they put objections in?
“Why, when our ward councillors objected, do these still get voted through?
“Our ward councillors represent the people of Moulsecoomb. They listen to use and put forward our views”
Principal planning officer Steve Tremlett said that it was not possible to put a blanket ban on shared houses in the area but, he said, officers would consider wider issues.
The three state primary schools serving the community have all seen a significant drop in pupil numbers.
For 2018-19 Moulsecoomb Primary, once a three-form entry school, had 29 pupils taking up its 90 available places.
Bevendean Primary, once a two-form entry school, had 28 children taking up its 60 available places.
Coombe Road, also a two-form entry school, had just 22 children accepting places.
