Osbaldwick residents' concern over student home application (From York Press)

Osbaldwick residents' concern over student home application

8:26am Wednesday 26th May 2010

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VILLAGERS are calling on York council chiefs to use new powers to control the growth of student households with a “test case” in Osbaldwick.

Local residents and Osbaldwick Parish Council say an application to turn a semi-detached home in Thirkleby Way into a house of multiple occupation should be turned down. They claim student lifestyles can be incompatible with working families and elderly residents, and say there are already a number of student rental properties in the immediate vicinity.

One resident, Laurie Pye, said: “We’re concerned that if any more student properties are allowed, there will be a domino effect, with people selling up because they don’t like it, which will allow more homes to become student houses.”

He said a couple had already decided to put their house on the market after discovering about the application. The parish council said in a letter to York council that it had concerns about the potential for late-night disturbance and parking problems. But it also claimed the loss of any further family housing to the student-let market would add to development pressures on the area’s green belt.

The applicant, Heather Richardson, said she had changed her original proposals to meet concerns. For example, she had reduced the number of students from six to five, to create a garage where wheelie bins and bikes could be stored so they were not left out at the front. She claimed one “problem family” could cause more nuisance than a group of students.

The Government announced in January that landlords could be forced to apply for planning permission to establish a new house of multiple occupation.

The Press reported earlier this year how new figures showed the extent to which some York neighbourhoods were now dominated by student tenants, with more than half of all houses in one street solely occupied by them.

Nine more schemes

CITY of York Council has revealed that the Thirkleby Way proposal is one of nine such applications received, with the others being in Newland Park Drive, Ingleborough Avenue (two schemes), Barstow Avenue, Stanley Street, Melrosegate, Derwent Avenue and Danum Road.

“It’s anticipated that the majority of applications would be determined by officers under delegated powers, unless specific applications are ‘called in’ for a committee decision by a councillor,” said a spokeswoman.

“The new legislation merely brings the occupation of dwellings by three or more unrelated people within planning control, and applications can be approved as well as refused.”

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