City councillors decide HMO can go ahead after a close vote

Nicholas Thomas, Local Democracy Reporter

Changes to a HMO in a Welsh city can go ahead, councillors have decided following a narrow vote.

Their decision allows the owner of 5 Eveswell Park Road in Newport to build an extra bedroom in the property, which already had planning permission and was in use as a five-bed HMO.

Applicant Michal Zvala argued six people were already allowed to live at the property and the extra bedroom would not increase the number of occupants.

He added there would be no “intensification” of use or “increase in comings and goings”, in a supporting statement for his application.

HMOs (houses in multiple occupation) are typically properties for single, unrelated adults who have their own private bedrooms but share other communal areas.

At a meeting of Newport City Council’s planning committee, on Wednesday May 6, senior officer Joanne Davidson said the “large” property was in a “sustainable” location close to shops, services, recreational facilities and a bus stop.

The house already has a “lawful use as a HMO for six occupants”, which “must be given substantial weight” by committee members.

“Occupancy level does not change”, she said, adding the “primary issue is the amenity standard of the sixth bedroom, and its suitability for a single occupant” – as well as a smaller bathroom’s impact on the other residents.

Cllr Deb Davies, who represents the Beechwood ward, also urged the committee to think about local parking pressures.

She said the HMO plans could create “additional pressure in an area where parking is already at a premium”.

However, the committee heard the original HMO plan was rejected on parking grounds in 2018 but later overturned by an inspector.

Committee member Cllr John Reynolds warned colleagues that “if we were to reject this on what look to me like quite flimsy grounds, we would be open to appeal that we would almost certainly lose, and then we could be accused of wasting public money”.

Several committee members voiced concerns about the impact of the changes on the HMO’s residents, however.

Plans show the sixth bedroom would measure to exactly the minimum size allowed.

Members of the committee should “look after the health and wellbeing of HMO occupants,” said Cllr Will Routley.

Cllr Mark Howells said the council’s own licensing regulations stipulated a HMO for six or more people should have “two combined bathrooms, or two combined shower rooms.

He argued a downstairs toilet and a top-floor en-suite should not count towards that total.

It technically has two combined bathrooms,” Ms Davison said. “I appreciate one is an en-suite.”

Cllr Gavin Horton said he didn’t think it “acceptable to say that an en-suite bathroom is counted as an amenity for the other residents to use”.

“That’s like saying I’m staying in a hotel room but I’ve got to go and use the shower room next door,” he added.

Planning permission was granted – subject to conditions – by four votes to three, with one committee member abstaining.