A clampdown on the rise in bedsits has been launched in a bid to stem the tide of Bristol family houses being converted and lost to students.
City Council cabinet members approved a new policy that aims to improve communities by restricting the number of houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) where there are already 10 per cent or more in a neighbourhood.
Properties in areas of high concentration will be refused planning permission under the rules, which are the result of years of cross-party work.
Campaigners have hailed it as a victory against the expansion of universities and increase in student shared houses across the city.
Bristol City Council cabinet member for spatial design and city planning Cllr Nicola Beech told a council meeting: “Concentrations of HMOs in neighbourhoods can lead to imbalanced and unsustainable communities and they can damage the character of an area.
“Those harmful impacts are associated with high numbers of HMOs and affect communities’ overall health and wellbeing.”
She told cabinet members on Tuesday, November 3, that these included reduced community cohesion and engagement, less housing choice, noise and disturbance, loss of privacy and poorly managed properties.
Labour Cllr Beech said areas found to be exceeding the new 10 per cent threshold included Easton, Eastville, Bishopston, Ashley Down, Totterdown and St George West.
“The supplementary planning document provides a much more explicit definition of something having a harmful concentration on a community,” she said.
“HMOs play a really important role in our city’s housing mix but the control and quality standards of those is also really important to successful communities.”
The policy also prevents homes being “sandwiched” between HMOs and sets higher standards for housing conditions, including room sizes, sound insulation and bin and bicycle storage.
Green Cllr Clive Stevens, who worked with Labour, Lib Dem and Conservative councillors to develop the document, said afterwards that universities’ “unmanaged growth” in Bristol was having an impact on the housing market, creating high rent and poor quality accommodation.
He said: “Not enough halls of residence means too many conversions of homes into HMOs, making it harder for everyone else to find accommodation.
“In parts of Bristol an over-concentration of HMOs has also created conflict between residents and students and led to complaints over noise and waste.
“I’m really glad this new policy was approved at cabinet.
“It will lead to a more balanced housing mix in Bristol that works for long-term residents, students and others.”
Caroline Dix, chairwoman of campaign group Action for Balanced Communities (ABC), which was formed by residents in 2015 in response to rapid university expansion, said it was a “real step forward for communities throughout the city”.
She said: “It will make a difference to so many residents in the long term.
“With protection from an unchecked spread of HMOs and limitations on numbers in any area, more homes will be available for families and couples, and the negative impacts on communities of having high-density clusters of HMOs will be reduced.
“Although this doesn’t stop the harm in areas of the city that are already oversaturated with HMOs, it has firmly put the brakes on the situation getting any worse.”
