Sui generis change of use of the existing six person House in Multiple Occupation (HMO) (use class C4) to a seven person HMO (Retrospective).
Minutes:
During this agenda item, the meeting length had reached almost two and a half hours. In accordance with the council’s Constitution, the committee agreed to extend the meeting in order to finish this item.
The committee considered planning application P22/S2552/FUL for the sui generis change of use of the existing six person House in Multiple Occupation (HMO) (use class C4) to a seven person HMO (retrospective), on land at 4 Barncroft, Wallingford.
Consultations, representations, policy and guidance, and the site’s planning history were detailed in the officer’s report, which formed part of the agenda pack for the meeting.
The planning officer introduced the report and highlighted that this was brought to the committee as the applicant is a member of the council. The planning officer recommended that the application be refused due to the inadequate provision of off-street parking.
The planning officer informed the committee that the dwelling was converted into a ‘house in multiple occupation’ (HMO) via permitted development rights. The applicant then received a licence for seven people to live in the home and a resident had since moved in. As the applicant did not get planning permission for the increase from a six to seven person HMO, this application was considered to be retrospective.
The newly revised parking standards, adopted by the highway’s
authority on 18 October 2022, required 0.5 on-plot spaces per
bedroom, meaning seven bedrooms would need 3.5 parking spaces.
Based on this, and the known traffic problems in the area based on
the site’s proximity to Wallingford school and additional
parking restrictions along St Georges Road, the two spaces
currently provided was considered inadequate off-street parking and
led the planning officer to recommend that the application be
refused.
Richard Harding, speaking on behalf of the applicant, spoke in
support of the
application.
The committee noted that the highways authority had no objection to
the application and some members believed that the local public
transport routes might provide sufficient special circumstances to
overturn the officer recommendation and approve the application.
Some members also mentioned that on street parking could be used as
there were no restrictions on Bancroft and that parking issues
might only occur during specific parts of the day, such as during
the school run.
However, the majority of members believed that the current six
person HMO would not be approved if it required planning permission
due to the property not being able to meet the correct parking
standards for six occupants, and therefore that the application for
increasing this to seven should be refused.
A motion, moved and seconded, to approve the application was not
passed on being put to the vote with the chair exercising his
casting vote.
The committee expressed concerns with the precedent of approving
this application for the increase from a six to seven person HMO as
the dwelling did not meet the required parking standard.
Ultimately, based on this reason, the committee agreed that the
application should be refused.
A motion, moved and seconded, to refuse the application was carried
on being put to the vote.
RESOLVED: to refuse planning application P22/S2552/FUL, for
the following reason:
The site provides inadequate parking facilities for cars and will
lead to
indiscriminate/obstructive parking on the surrounding road network
where parking restrictions are in place. The adjacent highway
network is subject to high levels of onstreet parking pressure
which would be further exacerbated by the proposal, resulting in
increased physical and visual obstruction of the carriageway and
pedestrian routes. The additional accommodation on the site would
increase the risk to highway safety and to users of the highway
contrary to policy TRANS5 and H17 of the adopted South Oxfordshire
Local Plan 2035, Policy MC5 of the made Wallingford Neighbourhood
Plan and the NPPF.
Supporting documents: