2 weeks Ago
An urgent call is going out to reverse a “horrible wrong” decision that allowed shared houses to spring up all over Bolton. A recent council meeting heard that the number of houses in multiple occupation in the borough have shot up from around 170 to more than 720 in recent years. Now Bolton Council has passed a motion calling on the government to reverse changes that allowed people to set up HMOs for between three and six people without planning permission.
Cllr Sean Fielding, of Breightmet, said: “I am pleased that the local Tories and Liberal Democrats recognise that their government got it horribly wrong deregulating HMOs. “HMOs are an important part of the housing mix, but without being able to control them through the planning system they have ended up concentrated on certain streets, including in parts of my ward of Breightmet. The motion was passed at Bolton Town Hall (Image: Anthony Moss) “They have also caused the loss of much more desperately needed family homes in areas of high demand.
” As it stands, HMOs for between three and six people are “permitted development” and so do not need planning permission from the council. The requirement for planning permission was removed by the Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government in 2010. In February a meeting of Bolton Council’s place scrutiny committee heard how HMOs had increased across the borough.
At the meeting Cllr Adele Warren, also of Breightmet, said there was a particular issue with people having to leave their homes after getting Section 21 evictions. She said that in many cases people were having to leave their homes because of these evictions with the landlord then changing their former home into an HMO . ALSO READ: The reason why the number of HMOs is increasing rapidly in Bolton ALSO READ: 'Overcrowding' and 'strain' concerns about scheme to turn house into eight bed HMO ALSO READ: HMO to be developed with no need for permission That same week concerns were raised about "overcrowding" and "strain" over plans to convert a house on Gregory Avenue, Breightmet into an eight bedroom HMO.
Cllr Fielding presented his motion asking the authority to call on the government to reverse the changes removing the need for planning permission to a full meeting of Bolton Council. He said: “Bolton Council is considering removing permitted development locally, but we can’t do it as quickly as we would like without being exposed to legal challenge. “If the change was made nationally, we wouldn’t need to spend taxpayers’ money undoing the misguided decisions of the coalition government or defending ourselves against lawsuits.
“I hope the Labour government will take action.” The motion was passed unanimously without a debate..
