Osbaldwick student home plan rejected (From York Press)

Osbaldwick student home plan rejected

7:59am Friday 9th July 2010 in

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RESIDENTS in a York community are celebrating after controversial plans to create more student housing near their homes were blocked.

Proposals which went before City of York Council this week aimed to turn a three-bedroom property in Osbaldwick into a five-bedroom house, sparking fury among people living nearby who claimed it would create a “tipping point”.

But the authority’s east area planning sub-committee voted unanimously to reject the plans to make the building a house in multiple occupation (HMO), using national legislation which allows councils to throw out such applications despite officers having recommended the scheme for approval.

Osbaldwick Parish Council heavily criticised the plans for the house in Thirkleby Way, saying it would add to noise and disturbance levels, lead to local amenities deteriorating and force residents to sell up to buy-to-let landlords, create parking problems and harm the Green Belt.

“We know York has a deficit of family homes and we have to look at the cumulative impact of houses in multiple occupation,” committee member Coun Dave Taylor said at this week’s Guildhall meeting which decided the application which was attended by many of the objectors.

“I believe the University of York has been a poor neighbour in failing to provide sufficient student accommodation on campus and that is what has been causing these problems.”

And opposing the scheme, Coun Brian Watson, said: “HMOs have an impact on residential streets once they go over a certain ratio, and I think we should review that ratio.”

Council officers had claimed the likelihood of the new coalition Government amending the laws allowing local authorities to block HMO applications could not be ignored and that approving the plans would not lead to noise levels rising.

Meanwhile, the same meeting heard a proposed scheme to convert a two-bedroom house in Barstow Avenue, in the Hull Road area, into a five-bedroom HMO has been withdrawn after also drawing a string of objections from local residents