Bolton: Changes to HMO housing rules set to be discussed

Under present rules developers only need full planning permission from Bolton Council if they plan for houses of multiple occupancy with six or more people living in them.

But following questions put by councillors, the authority is now aiming to set up a policy development group which will discuss wide ranging changes to the practice.

Cllr Paul Heslop, who represents Kearsley, said: “We’re just glad that its going to come up and we’re going to present everything on it.

“We hope it will be all encompassing, not just about Article Four, because there are lots of other issues around HMOs.”

The topic has proven to be controversial at Bolton Town Hall (Image: Newsquest)

Article Four refers to the legal means that councils can ask property owners to go through before converting homes into HMOs.

The wave of applications to turn what have previously been normal family homes, often traditional terraced housing, into HMOs across Bolton has already caused controversy.

Cllr Heslop in particular was alarmed by a recent plan that was put before Bolton Council to transform the abandoned Spread Eagle pub on Manchester Road, Kearsley into an eight bedroom HMO.

While developers have often argued that they can help Bolton meet its housing needs people living in the streets where houses are set to be converted have often raised concerns about overcrowding, congestion on the roads and pressure on services.

Developments have tended to be proposed in areas that are already densely populated, often on terraced streets.

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But Cllr Heslop says he hopes to discuss the full range of issues involved in houses like these.

He said: “There are other council that have this policy of 1.5 car parking space per bedroom with HMOs.

“People say that people in HMOs don’t use cars but there’s no scientific evidence for that, when you look at them in the street, they’ve still got cars parked around HMOs.”

A date has not yet been set for the policy development group but Cllr Heslop says he hopes they will meet in the near future.