A PLAN to convert a house in a busy street into an HMO - rejected for not providing enough parking spaces - will now be allowed to go ahead as part of a new ruling.

An application to convert the home in Lansdowne Road in Worcester into a house of multiple occupation (HMO) was rejected by planners at Worcester City Council earlier this year over a lack of car parking but the work will now be allowed to go ahead following a successful appeal to the government’s planning inspectors.

Parking spaces are already at a premium in the narrow city street which the council feared would be made worse if the HMO plan was backed.

The planning inspector ruled in favour of J.N.W Property Developments saying a potential four-room HMO would require three spaces under the council’s own rules – the same as if it was a four-bed home – for which parking permits had been secured.

The inspector said: “By reason of the same parking standard for a four-bedroom HMO and a dwelling, the available parking permits and the observed availability of on-street parking, there would be no increase in competition for on-street parking spaces in the surrounding area arising from the appeal scheme.

“There would not be an unacceptable impact on the safety of other highway users.”

A handful of attempts had been made to convert the three-bed home, which was previously Sharky’s shop and off licence, into a HMO with applicant J.N.W. Property Developments eventually turning to the government’s planning inspectors in a bid to get the decision overturned.

A previous application to convert the former three-bed house into a five-bed HMO was rejected by Worcester City Council in 2020 but permission has since been granted to convert the home’s attic space into a bedroom.

When rejecting the first application in 2020, council planners said there was not enough space in the house to accommodate at least five people and the bedrooms and communal areas would be too small.

Rejecting the second plan earlier this year, the council said the lack of parking – and the further problems it would add to an already congested street – meant the application could not be supported.