Welsh Government approves HMO plans after council refusal

Lewis Smith, Local Democracy Reporter

Rejected plans to build a new four-bedroom house in multiple occupation (HMO) in a south Wales town centre have been given approval by the Welsh Government following an appeal from developers.

The plan to change a property in Mackworth Street, Bridgend from a two-bedroom residential dwelling into a four-bedroom HMO was initially rejected by Bridgend County Borough Council in September 2025.

This was on the basis the shared home would be incompatible with the building in terms of its location, scale, and intensity and would have an “adverse impact on residential amenity” if given the go-ahead.

The decision came in response to the request for a change of use, which also proposed internal alterations to the property to subdivide one of the bedrooms and the lounge to create an additional two bedrooms for single occupants.

However applicants at D2 Propco Limited appealed the rejection to the Welsh Government who decided that it should be allowed to go ahead after a planning inspector said it would not have an unacceptable impact.

A section of the published decision notice said: “I accept that the conversion to a four-person HMO would likely intensify the property’s use.

“However the existing dwelling could accommodate a family with one or two children, one of which could be an adult child.

“Therefore such an increase in the intensity of the use would unlikely be significant.

“Furthermore there is no compelling evidence that any related increase in the level or nature of noise and disturbance generated from within the HMO or its shared garden, or from residents’ comings and goings, would be of a magnitude that would harm the living conditions of neighbouring occupants.

“In these circumstances the proposal’s scale and intensity would be compatible with the existing building and the adjacent residential
dwellings and would not have an unacceptable adverse impact on the residential amenity and character of the area.”

It added that there was also no evidence to support concerns the approval could cause increased parking pressures or anti-social behaviour in the street.

The inspector did however agree a condition to restrict the number of occupants to four as it was deemed necessary in the “interest of the living conditions of future occupants”.

The result of the appeal means the applicant now has the permission to develop the HMO near Bridgend town centre within five years of the decision.

A separate application for an award of costs was refused as the local council was said to have provided reasonable planning grounds for reaching its decision.