'Taking power back for residents' - Talks planned over tighter Hartlepool HMO rules

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HMOs refer to properties such as a house split into separate bedsits, a shared house/flat or a hostel.

Currently if a HMO proposal has fewer than six bedrooms then specific local authority planning permission is not required.

However Hartlepool Labour councillors are calling for council rule changes which would mean any size HMO would need planning permission, therefore allowing residents to have their say.

Cllr Mike Young, chair of Hartlepool Borough Council planning committee.

They have written to Conservative Councillor Mike Young, the chair of the planning committee, who has responded stating conversations are continuing with officers on the issue.

Cllr Young added they must find out what evidence exists to say HMOs have been detrimental within their locations, which would be key to any debate around policy alterations.

Deputy Labour Group leader Councillor Jonathan Brash said: “In Burn Valley we have been successful in fighting off some HMO applications that would have damaged the local community, but it is vital that we expand our powers to all such developments.

“We are not saying all HMOs are bad, but we are saying that they should all be subject to proper scrutiny before going ahead. This is about taking power back for residents.”

17 Hutton Avenue, in Hartlepool, was subject of a bid to make it an eight-bed HMO.

Earlier this week it emerged that an application for an eight-bed HMO in the town’s Hutton Avenue – which had attracted more than 50 objections - had been withdrawn.

Labour added a number of applications for larger HMOs have been resisted by councillors and residents due to concerns such as antisocial behaviour.

Cllr Young, in his response, said conversations with the council’s head of planning should soon be able to offer findings “in terms of the different options available as part of a future plan of action”.

He added: “The starting point however, I think we can all agree, is seeking to find out how existing HMOs are delivering and performing across the borough.

“Finding out whether they are indeed causing antisocial behaviour for example and more broadly whether the ‘fear of crime’, a definite material consideration, is reasonable in determining the impact of HMOs based on the actual evidence we have.

“I am just as motivated to discover the impacts of HMOs and how that might help steer future council policy for us, as we seek to make, collectively, better and more supportive decisions for the residents of Hartlepool.”