House in multiple occupation application in Leamington causes controversy as objectors raise concerns over council 'wrecking' planning policy

The application for the property, which has already been converted at 16 Princes Drive, will go before Warwick District Council's (WDC) planning committee at a meeting next week and have been recommended for approval by the authority's officers.

But objectors, including the Leamington Together campaign group, residents living nearby and ward councillor Bill Gifford, say the plans go against the council's housing policies which set a ten per cent limit on HMOs within a 100-metre radius and that this limit has already been met by the student halls of residence at the Warwickshire College site nearby.

The Leamington Together group has said: "Local Plan housing policy sets a 10 per cent limit on the number of houses in multiple occupancy, or HMOs (the vast majority, shared student houses) within a 100 metre radius of any proposed new HMO, and that includes shared student suites in halls of residence, like those at Warwickshire College.

"Using the 100-metre radius, the area around the proposed new HMO in Princes Drive is three times the permitted level already.

"An open and shut case, you might think.

"Not so.

"Step forward WDC planners with their “material planning considerations”, which allow the Local Plan to be overridden.

"Taking a view that shows no knowledge of the local area or of students, WDC claims the railway line ‘insulates’ Princes Drive from the College, and students all walk East into town.

"If that all sounds pretty spurious, and indeed irrelevant, that’s because it is, according to local residents and campaign groups like Leamington Together.

" Along with ward councillor Bill Gifford, they say there’s no evidence for any of it, and if it is accepted it will wreck a policy designed to prevent HMOs from taking over the town.

"If you know the area, it’s obvious the College halls have access right next to Princes Drive.

"Students from the halls are just as likely to go down Princes Drive (and attend parties at the new HMO) and use Avenue Road to and from South Town, as they are to go East to the Parade.

" But there is no need to get lost in a morass of possibilities and projections.

"As campaigners and protesters insist, all you need to do is use the existing policy for the purpose it was designed for.

" Why are the planners so determined to cling to these claims that make no sense, to avoid using their own Local Plan?

"WDC needs to explain.

Cllr Gifford added: "The houses in Princes Drive are ideal family homes with generous gardens, so I find it sad that the planning department is recommending jettisoning a solid policy in the Local Plan in favour of one of these houses staying as an HMO.

"When I speak on behalf of the residents who have objected I will be urging the application be refused.”

Planning officers have reported that they have acknowledged the objections but believe the application to be acceptable.

The report says: "Objections from local residents have been received on the basis that the proposal would increase the percentage of HMOs within a 100-metre radius of

the site to more than ten per cent, and therefore that it should be refused.

"While this concern is noted, officers consider in this particular case the proposal to be acceptable due to the physical barrier between the existing HMOs within the college campus and the residential properties along Princes Drive and surrounding streets."

For more about the plans search for application number W/20/0210 on Warwick District Council's planning portal.