A plan for a four-bed home to be converted into “slum housing” in Alsager has been refused by Cheshire East Council.
The deciding officer said the conversion of 3, Audley Road into a 10-bed house of multiple occupation (HMO) would result in “sub-standard living conditions” for the future occupiers and that the number of bedrooms would need to be “significantly reduced” if the application was submitted again.
As previously reported, residents feared that if approved, the living conditions would “turn people into rats” and urged members of the town council to object to the application at a Planning, Environment and Community committee meeting last month.
Claire Ellerton, who said she lived doors away from the property, said she worried about the “type of people” who would be attracted to live in it. It would have had 10 people sharing two showers, a small kitchen and limited outdoor space.
She said: “Who is the target audience? Is there going to be more anti-social behaviour? It doesn’t fit with the remit of Alsager.
“I’ve moved from a big city to be at peace. It was such a lovely place to live, but now I see drug-taking at Milton Park and at the railway station. People don’t feel safe letting their kids walk to school.”
Coun Michael Unett, who chaired the meeting, described the room sizes as “shocking”.
He said: “There isn’t enough space. Imagine trying to cook yourself a meal in that kitchen.
There are only two showers – one in a tiny bathroom and the other next to the kitchen, where you have to step over the toilet to get in.
“This is slum housing of the future, regardless of who would live here. Can you imagine the conditions?”
Coun Richard McCarthy, who lives opposite the building, said he was “horrified” to discover that most of the bedrooms had complied with national guidelines for room sizes.
Members unanimously agreed to recommend that Cheshire East Council refused the application, and that they would write to Alsager’s MP Sarah Russell with concerns over the national standards.
The decision to refuse the development was uploaded to Cheshire East’s online planning portal on Monday.
The officer’s report noted that no objections had been raised by Cheshire East’s environmental protection, highways or housing standards consultees, but that concerns had been highlighted by Cheshire Police over traffic generation and parking.
It said 27 representations had been made, which expressed 15 separate concerns including the development being “too dense”, waste generation and disruption on bin collection day, proximity to the railway crossing and a lack of outdoor space for the inhabitants.
While the report acknowledged that a “saturation” of HMOs in a particular area could have a negative impact, it said: “In the case of this site, the majority of the surrounding residential properties are not HMOs and as such, it could be considered acceptable in principle.”
Addressing concerns over noise levels and anti-social behaviour, the report said: “While the increased level of occupation may lead to some increase in noise levels generated from the property, it is not considered that a reason for refusal on these grounds could be sustained.
“In terms of anti-social behaviour, it is not possible to make the assumption that the use of the building as a house of multiple occupation, would create this problem in the local neighbourhood.”
The report said that while the rooms met floorspace requirements, four of the bedrooms were not wide enough to comply with the current standards.
It also said the allocated outdoor space was “very small” and that if adequate bin and cycle storage were provided there would be little space for sitting outside or drying and washing clothes.
In conclusion, the report said: “The proposed development would represent over-development of the site and would result in sub-standard living conditions for future occupiers by virtue of the number of occupants, size of some of the bedrooms and provision of external amenity space.”
It said the proposal was therefore contrary to policies within the Cheshire East’s Local Plan, Alsager’s Neighbourhood Plan and national technical housing space standards.
