Issue - meetings

There are concerns about the impact of high levels of Houses in Multiple Occupation in Bath.  A mixture of planning controls and housing-led solutions is to be considered by Cabinet.

[The Chief Executive, John Everitt, left the meeting at this point]

Jacqui Darbyshire read a statement on behalf of David Cox (Policy Officer, National Landlords Association) [a copy of which is attached to the Minutes as Appendix 7 and on the Council's website] in which he argued that additional licensing would not work; Article 4 Direction would reduce house prices and increase competition among tenants; enforcement should be concentrated on rogue landlords; but supported the idea of landlord accreditation

Councillor Tim Ball asked Jacqui whether she believed everyone had a right to live in a quality home.  Jacqui replied that she did believe this, and that it included students and families.

Councillor June Player in a statement appealed to Cabinet to do all in its power to ensure that Bath would retain community spirit in mixed communities of HMOs and local families, without a clash of lifestyles.

Councillor Tim Ball asked Councillor Player to describe the community spirit in areas of high HMO presence.  Councillor Player said that her experience was of a very much reduced sense of community spirit.  She praised those students who did voluntary work during their stay in Bath but was despondent about the lifestyle clashes which made life unhappy for some families.

Mark Rose (Planning Consultant for University of Bath) made a statement [a copy of which is attached to the Minutes as Appendix 8 and on the Council's website] emphasising that HMOs are an essential source of housing for young people including graduates, young professionals, key workers and contract workers as well as students.  Any action by the Council which might force these groups of people to live outside the city would have an adverse effect on the local economy.  The university’s position was that the issue was about the management of properties, and this issue could be resolved with cooperation between the Council, universities and other stakeholders and did not require an Article 4 Direction.

Naomi Mackrill (Vice-President, Community and Diversity, University of Bath Students Union) in a statement [a copy of which is attached to the Minutes as Appendix 9 and on the Council's website] objected to the apparent blame being put on students for problems being caused by the lack of housing in the city.  She said her student colleagues would make statements which together would present the view of students from both universities.

Chris Clements (Vice-President, Sport, University of Bath Students Union) argued in a statement [a copy of which is attached to the Minutes as Appendix 10 and on the Council's website] that the solutions proposed in the report would not in fact solve the social and community cohesion problems but in some cases would tend to make matters worse.  He said that this was acknowledged in the report, which undermined the report’s recommendations.

Councillor Tim Ball asked Chris whether he believed it was right to turn a family home into dormitory style accommodation.  Chris replied that the right thing would  ...  view the full minutes text for item 178