Cabinet agrees student homes crackdown in Worcester (From Worcester News)
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Cabinet agrees student homes crackdown in Worcester
10:17am Wednesday 13th February 2013 in News By Tom Edwards
CRACKDOWN: The city council wants more control of student housing
A CRACKDOWN on student homes has been agreed by the city council’s leadership - with bosses saying it is aimed at creating “cohesive” neighbourhoods.
Councillor Marc Bayliss, the authority’s deputy leader, insisted the move was “not an attack on students” and was aimed at taking control over how city streets develop.
During a meeting of the Conservative cabinet last night, he said the “implications” of too many houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) impacts on property values and anti-social behaviour.
The rule change means anyone who wants to turn a house into a HMO, which is a property rented out to three people or more, must apply to the council for a ‘change of use’ first.
Coun Bayliss said: “This is not an attack on students, it’s not anti-students, it’s about creating cohesive neighbourhoods in the city.
“I think it’s a sensible approach because we do want a fair, balanced mix of communities - we know the implications of HMOs on the value of properties, on anti-social behaviour, on cohesion, and this helps us manage it.
“This is about the council taking a legitimate role in building communities.”
Councillor Simon Geraghty, the leader, added: “We don’t want to reach saturation point - there are streets where people have genuine concerns about the character of an area being changed because there are too many HMOs.
“We need to strike a balance between the different needs of the city, and this is a measured approach.”
The move is going out for public consultation for four weeks and will then come into force from the summer of 2014, to give landlords time to gear up to the changes.
From that point, any property owners seeking to turn a home into a HMO must lodge an application to the council’s planning department.
If nearby residents object to an application, they can make representations to the planning committee, which has the right to throw out a landlord’s bid.
The planning committee was consulted over it last month and backed it.
* For more on this story see your Worcester News tomorrow.
Comments(9)
kateamuffin
says...
4:06pm Wed 13 Feb 13
The adjoining house to my parents has been converted to accommodate 5 students, this includes the dining room, living, room & garage. 5 girls moved in September they seem to shout, argue, swear, laugh, scream, play loud music, slam doors, set the fire alarm off all night long every night, yet of a morning they do not rise until midday.
After several nights of disrupted sleep some of the local residents decided to go around & talk to them, they were greeted with foul language thrown at them & laughed at as they walked away.
Why should the people of Worcester who have lived here and worked hard all their lives feel they have to put their house on the market for a low cut price & move as far away as possible??
The university could not help as the house is privately rented, the landlord himself is a young wannabe business man and the local councillors advise you to call the police and once you have as much crime reference numbers as possible obtain a anti-social behaviour order which can take some time, by which I am sure they will have moved out & the next lot of students will be shipped in.
The university needs to create more affordable accommodation onsite to prevent the overspill into our housing estates.
zx12r
says...
4:10pm Wed 13 Feb 13
Whilst this intake (so far) have been fairly quiet compared with previous years the car parking is still a major problem.
Why they have to bring a car, then dump it, sometimes for weeks on end is beyond me. Surely the council could issue 'residents only' parking permits. A few parking fines would soon see them leaving them at home.
zx12r
says...
4:26pm Wed 13 Feb 13
Their answer, when all else failed was to go round & hammer on the doors & windows around 7.00am in the morning. This upsets the breed no end & led to a much quieter existence.
Sunday morning is the best after they have been clubbing till about five. It does make them quite irritable when woken from a stupor after only a couple of hours kip.
Hamilton60
says...
5:39pm Wed 13 Feb 13
zx12r wrote:I totally agree with this action. I know of some people that did just that and it worked but it may not always work. We too had to suffer parties/people hanging around outside smoking and drinking till the early hours, girls screaming their heads off and urinating in the road.... I took photos and sent them to the Uni. It made them a bit quieter after that. They have no respect for working people, whether they are on nights or days, and then complain they don't get any respect.
Kateamuffin, some friends of ours had the same problem a couple of years ago, also with 5 young females.
Their answer, when all else failed was to go round & hammer on the doors & windows around 7.00am in the morning. This upsets the breed no end & led to a much quieter existence.
Sunday morning is the best after they have been clubbing till about five. It does make them quite irritable when woken from a stupor after only a couple of hours kip.
Captain Thrap
says...
8:03pm Wed 13 Feb 13
Knock them up early in the morning to complain EVERY time it happens. Just remember that whilst we pay our council tax their landlord pays nothing - we are funding the council services bled by these establishments that disrupt our lives. We have exceeded saturation point in numerous areas, the Council need to back-track the ruling and make landlords apply to keep their HMO's
Jabbadad
says...
10:47pm Wed 13 Feb 13
SO again we have what we have because our Councillors are just reactive and incapable of being proactive to most problems that the man / woman in the street can see looming.
TDH123
says...
7:54am Thu 14 Feb 13
zx12r wrote:But the students are residents and would surely be entitled to such a permit?
With both of us in our mid to late 60's, we too are seriously thinking of upping sticks & getting out of Bromyard Rd.
Whilst this intake (so far) have been fairly quiet compared with previous years the car parking is still a major problem.
Why they have to bring a car, then dump it, sometimes for weeks on end is beyond me. Surely the council could issue 'residents only' parking permits. A few parking fines would soon see them leaving them at home.
As for adopting the confrontational approach and knocking on doors at 7 in the morning what response do you anticipate?!
zx12r
says...
9:48am Thu 14 Feb 13
With regard to them being residents, they are only temporary residents & the council should only issue a max' of two parking permits per household, not 5, 6 or even 7 as is the case at the back of where I live.
Hamilton60 says...
1:42pm Wed 13 Feb 13