Agenda item

The Chair invited the members of the public who had registered to speak on this matter to address the Committee.

Jackie Derbyshire, Naomi MacKrill, Harry Birch and Mark Rose read their statements to the Committee.  All four speakers asked that the Article 4 Direction and threshold policy should not be adopted by the Council.

Councillors Sharron Ball (Westmoreland Ward Councillor), June Player (Westmoreland Ward Councillor) and Will Sandry (Oldfield Ward Councillor) spoke in favour of the Article 4 Direction and threshold policy by saying that the Article 4 Direction will help control and ensure an even and fairer spread of Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) across the area and it will also help towards establishing a sense of community.

The Chair thanked all the speakers and reminded the meeting that the Development Control Committee does not have the decision making power on this matter.  The Committee are asked to pass their views to the Cabinet who has its meeting later in the day.

The Chair invited Cleo Newcombe-Jones (Planning Officer) and Simon De Beer (Policy and Environment Manager) to introduce the report.

The Committee made the following points:

Councillor Les Kew said that the Article 4 Direction was not retrospective and as such it will not change much.  The Cabinet should not make the decision at this time but instead monitor this issue and bring it back for debate in one year’s time.  The Council should support students as they have limited incomes.  Councillor Kew expressed his concern about financial implications and in particular for the option 2 of the proposal.

Councillor Eleanor Jackson agreed with Councillor Kew.  Councillor Jackson appreciated the issues that the Ward Councillors had raised on this matter but, in her view, what is proposed is far too inflexible.  Councillor Jackson felt that students were singled out on this matter and expressed her concerns about graduate retention in BANES.  Councillor Jackson concluded her statement with a suggestion that the Cabinet do not make the decision now and instead monitor this issue and bring it back for debate next year with the BANES wide policy.

Councillor David Martin said that the Ward Councillors had highlighted the issue of community balance.  Councillor Martin had concerns that the report did not contain sufficient evidence to justify an Article 4 Direction and licensing.  Councillor Martin concluded that the consultation should go ahead and the recommendations should be taken forward as given.

Councillor Liz Hardman said that the number of HMOs will increase in time and highlighted that young professionals also live in HMOs.

Councillor Douglas Nicol agreed with Councillor Jackson and suggested that the Council should think again about the proposal.

Councillor Brian Webber said that he was sympathetic on issue of the community balance and on defending the desire for long standing communities to stay.  However, he was concerned about a lack of objective evidence of harm in the report.  Councillor Webber agreed with the suggestion from Councillor Kew and suggested that the Cabinet should wait for at least a year before making the decision.

Councillor Bryan Organ said that he supports option 4 in the report and said that this will not affect the areas that are already included.

Councillor David Veale said that the proposal will not change the current HMOs and he supported the suggestion from Councillor Kew.

The Chair thanked the Committee for sharing their views.

The Committee AGREED with the following summary of the debate to be passed to the Cabinet:

1.  The Development Control Committee expressed the following concerns:

a.  Financial implications for options 1 and 2

b.  Impact on graduate retention

c.  Students seemed to be singled-out

d.  The report lacks detailed evidence of harm

2.  Some Members suggested that the Cabinet should delay the decision and instead carry out a consultation on this matter and the results of the consultation be reported to the Development Control Committee before they are considered by the Cabinet.