Farnworth councillor hits out at ‘an excess of HMOs’ in area

Cllr Sue Haworth says she has been contacted about an “excess” of shared living properties in the area and is being lobbied to crack down on the issue.

Her comments follow a planning application by fellow Farnworth politician, Cllr Hamid Khurram, to turn the property at 20 Broadway, on the Andrews Estate, into a six-bed HMO.

Cllr Khurram wanted to stress that it would not be a ‘traditional’ HMO, and would be geared towards professionals working at the nearby hospital, though Cllr Haworth still raised concerns.

She said: “I am being lobbied by local residents about an excess of HMOs at the Andrews Estate and the Bradford Road area nearby.

Cllr Khurram has submitted plans to turn this property into a six-bed HMO (Image: Google Maps)

“This is because of the planning application just behind Kingsland Road that is being built, which provides for 90 bedrooms in HMO format across three blocks.

“There are already other existing HMOs in the area at streets such as Greenland Road, Winifred Road, Briarfield Road and Bradford Road.

“We also know that throughout the borough there are HMOs not notified to the authorities, either because they have under five bedrooms and do not need licences or landlords have not been open about them.

Plans for the ground and first floors of the property (Image: Bolton Council)

“Bolton has an Article 4 declaration now for HMOs, which is functioning just like a head count, really.

“I am regularly told that the council does not have a policy regarding HMO proliferation and overdevelopment – residents say they feel very let down by this.”

Cllr Haworth goes on to point out that other councils have a policy whereby new HMOs cannot be developed in an area if 10 per cent of the homes within 100m are HMOs already.

She says this would – in this case – prevent the Broadway HMO plan because of the “shared living blocks” being built “around the corner”.

Protesters turned out to oppose the plans Image: Public

When discussing Cllr Khurram’s HMO application, he said: “It’s a very good property for professionals – doctors, nurses.

“It’s not your traditional style HMO where you are putting a lot of people in a small space.

“I can assure the community that this will only be offered to professionals.

“To be honest, I can totally understand how HMOs are coming across, but not every HMO is like that – the rooms in it are bigger than my own!”

The application will be debated by Bolton Council‘s planning department at a later date.