They claim several recent applications to build extra HMOs in the city risk ‘overwhelming’ communities
Critics have claimed houses of multiple occupation, or HMOs, are ‘springing up everywhere’ in Newport and adding to pressures on parking availability and local services.
They claim several recent applications to build extra HMOs in the city risk ‘overwhelming’ communities.
Carmel Townsend, the leader of the Liberal Democrat group in Newport City Council, said planners should prioritise homes, not HMOs.
Just on one end of Caerleon Road in my ward, there are two current applications, said Cllr Townsend, who quit Newport’s planning committee last year. One for a five-bed property near the Spar, another for an overwhelming nine-bed property on the same road nearby.
The pressure on parking and local services is already too much, Cllr Townsend said.
Sometimes HMOs are an important part of the housing mix, Cllr Townsend added. We won’t oppose all HMOs, but overwhelming local areas with traffic, pressure on services, and in some areas, anti-social behaviour, is not the answer.
Newport council said it could not comment on individual planning applications, but acknowledged proposals for HMOs ‘can often be contentious’.
However, the council suggested it was unfair to say all HMOs were problematic.
Poorly-managed and high concentrations of HMOs can potentially lead to issues affecting local residents and often the tenants themselves, but well-managed HMOs can integrate well with the local community and will often house young professionals, a spokesperson for the city council said.
Newport’s planners follow national policy and guidance when it comes to any possible ‘over-concentration’ of HMOs, they added.
Recent applications for HMOs in Caerleon Road have also been opposed by the St Julians and Beechwood Conservatives, who said parking in the area was ‘already extremely problematic and difficult for existing residents’.
