Planning rule changes for HMOs set to be approved

All houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) in Warrington are set to require planning permission under new measures set to be approved by councillors later.

Warrington Council has already introduced rules which mean all HMOs in six areas require planning permission, but now the local authority plans to extend them across the borough.

Currently, only HMOs for seven or more people need planning permission.

The plans will be discussed by the authority's cabinet. The changes look set to come into force in September.

In September, Warrington Council's cabinet backed plans to remove permitted development rights to convert houses into small HMOs - for fewer than seven people - in six wards.

This will come into force on 25 September.

But councillors are now looking to introduce the change across the whole borough on the same day.

Council leader Hans Mundry told BBC Politics North West that HMOs did still have a place in the borough's housing mix.

"What we're trying to do is protect communities so we don't have an overburden of HMOs grouped together in different parts of our communities," he explained.

"We always wanted to do a borough-wide one, but we thought we're going to pilot it first.

"But once we announced we're going to pilot it, there were demands to take it further from residents.

"It made sense to us to say we'd really like to have some control what happens in our town and try and safeguard our communities to make sure we can meet the housing need where we possibly can with a mixture type of housing, but also don't overburden communities and be completely changing everything."

The council said this would "ensure a consistent approach" across the town.

"It will control any potential outward spread of HMOs from the central six wards which could further exacerbate issues already being experienced in the borough's outer areas," the report said.

The report said HMOs were "becoming an increasingly contentious topic" in the area and there had been requests from councillors and residents for additional controls.

The report did warn that in making this change, the council could be at risk of liability for compensation claims for "any abortive expenditure or other loss" linked to the removal of the development rights, and said the benefits of the borough-wide consistency would need to be "balanced against the risk of compensation claims".

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