Decision details

To agree to formulate an Article 4 Direction for public consultation that requires property owners in Bretton, Fletton & Woodston, Hargate & Hempstead, Hampton Vale, Park, North and Central wards, to obtain planning permission when converting single homes or residential properties into HMOs, alongside relevant planning policies to support this.

Cabinet considered the report and RESOLVED to:

1.    Endorse the draft ‘Small Homes in Multiple Occupation Article 4 Direction’ at Appendix 1, to cover the areas shown on the map/s at Appendix 2, for a period of public consultation between Friday 24^th February and Friday 19th May;

2.    Delegate to the Executive Director Place & Economy, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Climate Change, Planning, Housing and Transport, to consider consultation responses, and make any minor amendments to the draft Article 4 Direction (including minor detailed boundary corrections to the areas to be covered by the Direction); and

3.    Delegate to the Executive Director Place & Economy, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Climate Change, Planning, Housing and Transport, to advertise and submit the Direction (as amended) to the Secretary of State.

To implement Key Decision KEY/28MAR2022/01.

To do nothing. This was discounted because:

a)    It is felt there is a legitimate expectation from the public that an Article 4 Direction will be prepared by the Council, with respect to Small HMOs, due to the Council and Cabinet resolutions to that effect; and

b)    The Article 4 Direction, together with the preparation of a new Residential Design Guide Supplementary Planning Document, offers a good opportunity to raise standards among new housing developments, including small HMOs

To prepare an Article 4 Direction to cover the areas listed in KEY/28MAR2022/01 (Bretton, Fletton & Woodston, Hargate & Hempstead, Hampton Vale, Park, North and Central wards), with other areas subsequently put forward by a number of Ward Members. This was discounted because:

a)    There was not a compelling evidential basis for the areas selected; and

b)    In total, the areas that had been put forward (at the time the Member Working Group met) would have covered approximately half of the area of the city, with the likely implication being that new small HMOs would simply be moved to the other half of the city, which would neither address the issues attributed to small HMOs, nor provide any useful data for the purposes of evaluating the approach

To prepare an Article 4 Direction to cover the entire city. This was discounted because there was not a compelling evidential basis to justify placing the restriction on the whole of the city.

None.

Cambridge Report