The Council is consulting on implementing an order to restrict the percentage of houses on any particular street which can be converted to houses of multiple occupation (HMO). This does not include Framwellgate Moor or Pity Me, but does cover most of the wider Durham City area.
In the City and surrounding areas many streets have such high levels of student occupancy that it impacts upon the sustainability of the area. HMO’s can also be non-student houses with more people living there than the property can sustain. Under Council plans, conversion to an HMO would require planning permission when the number of HMO houses on a street exceeds 10%.
We asked for Framwellgate Moor & Pity Me to be included in the boundaries proposed for the Order, but the Council has not done this. Parts of Framwellgate Moor have very high percentages of HMO properties. This can cause problems due to lack of space for bins, insufficient parking, over-development, empty properties and in some cases, rogue landlords leaving properties in a poor condition or allowing overcrowding.
For this reason we are asking that you respond to this consultation. We are putting forward a proposal for the whole area to be included in the Order. In case this is not approved we are also asking that at the very least the Terraces in Framwellgate Moor and Pity Me are included.
This would not halt all conversions to multi-occupancy homes. However it would allow the Council to restrict such changes via the planning system where it was felt the balance had gone too far.
We already have problems on some streets. Our biggest concern is that if the rest of the City is included in the restrictions, developers will seek to concentrate future HMO development in our area – with no ability to stop it. This will lead to an increase in the problems we outline above.
We ask that you support our concerns by taking part in this consultation. The Council didn’t provide a consultation event in Framwellgate Moor so we have arranged one at the Community Centre on Mon 5th October from 3pm-6pm.
Please attend the event and/or email your views to spatialpolicy@durham.gov.uk and copy one of us in. Or you can write to: Spatial Policy, Rm 4/24-35, DCC, County Hall, DH1 5UL.
More information can be found on the Council website here:
http://durhamcc-consult.limehouse.co.uk/portal/planning/article4hmo