Stephen Williams MP supports calls from new Councillor for sustainable student housing
June 12, 2007 4:08 PM
Cllr Alex Woodman standing on Kingsdown Parade, one of the many streets in Bristol affected by high density of HMOs.
New Cabot Councillor, Alex Woodman is calling on city MPs to back a Commons motion calling on the Government to bring forward proposals to help local authorities control the spread of houses in multiple occupation (HMOs).
The motion calls for all student properties to be subject to licence and for measures to be introduced to control saturation in defined areas.
Alex said "In England planning permission is not required to use what was a family house as an HMO. Having a high density of HMOs can have a detrimental effect on local communities, for example in terms of waste, parking and noise, and can eventually lead to communities becoming unbalanced and unsustainable.
"Whilst no one can deny that students make a huge contribution to the city, I have concerns about the impact of an imbalance between students and local residents' housing in some areas.
"At present, not all HMOs need to be licensed. I'm asking local MPs to support this proposal to refine the definition of an HMO, and for all student properties to be licensed. That would be an important step towards resolving some of these issues."
Stephen Williams MP has also raised the issue in Parliament. He added "More and more of my casework relates to the problems caused by having a high density of student properties in a small area. Students make an enormously positive contribution to city life, and we need to make sure that contribution isn't overshadowed by the damage done by allowing communities to be damaged by not having a suitable balance between students and local residents."
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