Public meeting planned over student lets (From York Press)

Public meeting planned over student lets

8:37am Saturday 11th February 2012 in News

A PUBLIC meeting is to be held to discuss proposals to restrict the growth of student lets in York.

Osbaldwick councillor Mark Warters said the meeting will take place at Osbaldwick Village Hall on Monday, February 20, at 7.30pm.

He said the aim was to give residents a chance to have their say on City of York Council proposals to impose a 20 per cent threshold on the number of houses of multiple occupation (HMO), often lived in by students, which should be allowed in any street or area.

The threshold would be used under a new “article 4” rule which is due to come into force in April, requiring people to apply for planning permission when they want to change an ordinary house into an HMO for between three and six people.

Coun Warters, who has long been campaigning for article 4, has claimed such a threshold would be counterproductive by pushing HMOs from areas already heavily populated by students into areas which currently have much lower percentages, such as Osbaldwick.

However, he said he wanted to know what members of the public thought.