Agenda item
Houses in Multiple Occupation - Article 4 Direction, Evidence Base and Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG).
To present to Resources Overview and Scrutiny Committee the draft versions of:
i. The evidence base document supporting the need for an Article 4 Direction that would remove permitted development rights for houses in multiple occupation in 9 wards in Hyndburn (Appendix 1) and;
ii. Supplementary Planning Guidance on Houses in Multiple Occupation that would be used to help determine planning applications for Houses in Multiple Occupation (Appendix 2), and;
To seek the observations of Resources, Overview and Scrutiny on the proposed Article 4 Direction, the Evidence Base (Appendix 1) and Policy on Houses in Multiple Occupation (Appendix 2).
A verbal update will be provided to Resources, Overview and Scrutiny on the outcome of the Cabinet meeting on 4th December 2024.
Recommended (1) That the approach proposed in the report be supported and comments noted; and
(2) That the verbal update to the Committee on the outcome of the proposals submitted to Cabinet on 4th December, be noted.
Minutes:
The Chief Planning and Transportation Officer submitted a report to the Committee presenting the draft versions of:
i. The evidence base document supporting the need for an Article 4 Direction that would remove permitted development rights for houses in multiple occupation in 9 wards in Hyndburn; and
ii. Supplementary Planning Guidance on Houses in Multiple Occupation that would be used to help determine planning applications for Houses in Multiple Occupation; and
2. To seek the observations of Resources Overview & Scrutiny Committee on the proposed Article 4 Direction, the Evidence Base and Policy on Houses in Multiple Occupation;
3. To inform Committee that due to there being a close timing of Cabinet (4th December) and the Resources Overview & Scrutiny Committee (10th December) and, consequently, due to a report being submitted to Cabinet first, there would be a verbal update provided for the Resources Overview and Scrutiny Committee on the outcome of the Cabinet meeting on 4th December.
Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Planning, Councillor Munsif Dad, alongside Chief Planning & Transport Officer, Simon Prideaux and Planning Officer, Shanshan Chen, presented the report outlining the draft policy. They informed Committee that:
· the policy would be implemented in 9 wards across the borough and gave details of the evidence base used to support the need for an Article 4 Direction.
· the Article 4 Direction was non-immediate and would remove permitted development rights in 9 wards for small HMOs
· the same report contained the evidence base for this approach and the proposed policy framework that would be consulted upon.
· the Council had a much better knowledge of number and location of HMOs in the borough which would enable them to monitor the situation more closely in the future.
· It would also apply to planning applications for the change of use from Use Class C3 to large HMOs in the whole Local Authority area.
· Guidance would not apply retrospectively to existing HMOs.
· Once the Article 4 Direction had been put into place it would be fairly quick to add any further wards, should it be required.
· There would be a six week consultation on the proposed documents and Article 4 Direction.
· The document would need to go before the Secretary of State, demonstrating the importance of supporting evidence needing to be robust, and could take up to a year to be implemented.
· Committee was informed that the Government saw the Article 4 Direction as an exception rather than the rule.
The Planning Officer gave details of the amount of work and the challenges of collecting the required data for the evidence base. She explained that only 9 wards had been included in the policy as the evidence collected had highlighted these wards.
The Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Planning and Transportation, Councillor Munsif Dad, along with the Chief Planning and Transportation Officer and Planning Officer gave responses to the following questions submitted in advance to the meeting:
1. Would SERCO houses remain outside the scope of Article 4 Direction?
No, all properties would be included.
2. How could a review of the ward boundaries effect the Article 4 Direction?
Committee was informed that the Boundary Review could be postponed due to the proposed devolution so this was currently an unknown factor. They were informed that more may be known after the release of the Government White Paper – English Devolution.
3. Why have only 9 wards out of 16 wards been covered by the Article 4 Direction?
The Article 4 Direction is evidence based but if other areas required inclusion, this could be done at a later date.
4. How does the Article 4 Direction keep control of the number of HMOs being permitted in Hyndburn?
The number of HMOs is controlled by the mechanism written into the Article 4 Direction. Committee was informed about the amount of information that had been collated by the Council which had previously been unknown and this was now the starting point for all future monitoring of HMOs.
5. Could the concept of ‘residential amenity’ be amended to reflect the item set out in the Blackburn with Darwen document?
Yes the Hyndburn document could be amended to reflect the concept of ‘residential amenity’ as set out in the Blackburn with Darwen policy.
Members raised the following concerns about the proposed Article 4 Direction and documents:
- The challenges of keeping track of HMOs and knowing the true number in each borough.
- The possible overspill of applications for HMOs into wards not included in the Article 4 Direction and which bordered wards which were included.
- The data provided to support the selected 9 wards for the Article 4 Direction may not truly reflect the similarities in wards not included in the proposal. Some Councillors considered a better methodology would have been to use local or geographical knowledge.
- Concern that an Article 4 Direction should cover the whole of the borough from the start rather than extending later to prevent a rise in more HMOs being established during this time. Members pointed out that both Blackburn with Darwen and Burnley had to extend their Article 4 Direction documents.
- Concern about the length of time the Article 4 Direction would take to be implemented.
- A request to extend the licensing scheme used for the larger HMOs to include all HMOS of all sizes.
- Concern about the potential compensation claims for HMOs already approved before the Article 4 Direction was put into place.
The Chief Planning and Transport Officer and the Planning Officer responded as follows:
- It was accepted that some areas, not included in the Article 4 Direction proposal, did exhibit similar characteristics and suggested that Members put this information forward as part of the consultation.
- Explained the difficulties of collating data and why ward data had been used.
- Agreed that the experiences of neighbouring authorities should be considered when developing Hyndburn’s own Article 4 Direction.
- Acknowledged that some wards not included in the Article 4 Direction could still be affected and of the difficulties of accurately applying criteria to wards where boundaries could be an issue. He indicated that if there was strong indication for a case to extend an area, it would be considered.
- Explained that the whole borough should not be included unless there was very strong evidence to include additional wards.
- Compensation may be payable to people who had already received approval for conversions into HMOs but the policy was non-immediate to avoid much of this.
The Committee was made aware of the risks of putting the whole borough forward under the Article 4 Direction.
The Committee wished the Chief Planning & Transportation Officer well in his retirement and thanked him for his work and service to the borough.
Resolved (1) That Committee noted that a similar report had already been submitted to, and approved by Cabinet;
(2) That Committee requested that the following issues be considered as part of the consultation that will take place in respect of the Article 4 evidence base/policy: and
(a) That, the concept of ‘residential amenity’, as set out in the SPG, is amended and that the definition reflects that as set out in the Blackburn with Darwen National Policy Framework; and
(b) That consideration be given to the inclusion of the Milnshaw, Altham, Immanuel and Overton wards as part of the Article 4 Direction, due to these areas being considered to exhibit very similar characteristics to the 9 wards already proposed and because it is anticipated that there will be a potential knock on, impacting neighbouring wards over time.
(3) That the Environmental Health Manager (Housing Standards), be written to, to enquire if the HMO Licensing requirements could be extended to include small HMOs in a manner consistent with planning requirements.
Supporting documents:
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HMO Report December 2024 Final Revised, item 279.
PDF 294 KB
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Appendix 1 Evidence to Support Hyndburn Article 4 Direction 29.11.2024, item 279.
PDF 2 MB
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Appendix 2 Draft SPD HMOs in Hyndburn 29.11.2024, item 279.
PDF 1 MB