Issue - meetings

On a motion from Councillor Cherry Beath, seconded by Councillor Will Sandry, it was

RESOLVED that

The Council:

1. Notes: the forthcoming review of Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) in Bath, announced earlier this month; the discussions held at the Planning, Housing and Economic Development PDS Panel of 5 January 2016 and the Bath City Forum meeting of 21 January 2016; policies relating to student accommodation and HMOs in the draft Placemaking Plan for B&NES including the submission report and appendices presented to Council this evening; representations made by the Universities on their growth aspirations; and the Article 4 Direction and Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) on HMOs of 2013.

2. Recognises the importance of the contribution made by Bath’s Universities and students to the economy, employment and culture in Bath and the wider area.

3. Notes that the Universities’ revised growth plans will bring thousands of additional students to Bath but that there are limited options for purpose-built student accommodation due to planning constraints, the lack of available sites and the need to prioritise the delivery of strategic planning requirements.

4. Council recognises that not all HMOs are occupied by students and that HMO accommodation is an important source of affordable housing, particularly for younger people.

5. Notes that the remit given to the Bath City Forum is narrow and does not cover areas of North East Somerset that may suffer from any knock-on effects of increased HMO's or further restrictions on HMO's in Bath.

6. With regard to the forthcoming review of the growth and standard of HMOs in Bath (including both the Supplementary Planning Document and Licensing regime), and in the interests of maintaining balanced communities, the Council calls for consideration to be given to:

a.  Whether the threshold after which applications for new HMOs would be refused should be lower than the current 25%;

b.  Whether the current geographical extent within which the concentration of HMOs is controlled should be extended to include other parts of the city;

c.  The feasibility, in planning terms, of introducing additional measures which could limit the development of purpose-built student accommodation in areas with already high densities of student accommodation or HMOs.

7. Cabinet is also asked to consider introducing mandatory licensing of landlords across B&NES in order to improve housing standards for tenants in rented accommodation.

[Notes:

1.  The wording at point 6 above was proposed by Councillor Bob Goodman and accepted by the mover and seconder of the motion.

2.  The successful resolution was carried with 53 Councillors voting in favour and 6 Councillors voting against.]