A planning inspector has allowed an 8-bed HMO at 43 Woodgrange Drive, eight days after councillors opposed it. On 14 October they are asked to think again.

A planning inspector has given permission for an eight-bedroom house in multiple occupation (HMO) at 43 Woodgrange Drive, Southend. The decision came on 24 September, eight days after the council’s Planning Committee said it would have refused an almost identical scheme for the same house.

Council officers now want councillors to reverse that position. The item goes back to the Planning Committee on Wednesday 14 October, with a recommendation that members would have granted permission (committee report).

The minutes of the 16 September meeting, published this week, also settle what happened to the other two HMOs on that night’s agenda. Councillors refused one and approved the other (minutes).

Three HMOs, three outcomes

All three applications went to committee on 16 September with officers recommending approval (16 September agenda). The committee’s decisions, from its minutes:

Address Proposal Decision
114 York Road, Kursaal ward House to 7-bed HMO, with a single-storey rear extension (26/00722/FUL) Refused
43 Woodgrange Drive, Kursaal ward House to 8-bed HMO, with rear extension and dormer (26/00798/FUL) Would have refused (already at appeal)
48 Argyll Road, Westcliff, Milton ward Part of a doctor’s surgery plus a new linked building to a 10-bed HMO (26/00591/FUL) Granted

York Road was refused because one bedroom would have poor outlook, which councillors said made the extension overdevelopment. They also objected to the cycle store. It was in the back garden with no outside access, so bikes would have had to go through the living areas.

Woodgrange Drive could not be decided by the council at all. The applicant had already appealed to the Planning Inspectorate because the council had not decided it in time. So the committee could only say what it would have done. It gave three reasons for refusal:

  • Bedroom 5 would be a floor away from its shower room.
  • “There are 15 HMOs within the same postcode”, so the scheme would add to an overconcentration and erode the area’s character of family homes.
  • It had not been shown that the extra residents would not worsen parking on nearby streets.

Argyll Road was approved with 18 conditions. No more than ten residents may live there, one to each bedroom. The ground-floor unit kept from the surgery may only be used as a community facility, open 7am to 9pm Monday to Saturday and 9am to 6pm on Sundays. Two parking spaces must be provided on Argyll Road, one with an electric vehicle charger. Future residents will not be able to get a residents’ parking permit.

Why Woodgrange Drive is coming back

The owner had two applications in for the same house. The first, for an eight-bed HMO with a dormer, rooflights and bin and cycle stores (26/00378/FUL), was refused by council officers and went to appeal.

The inspector allowed that appeal on 24 September. The council’s own summary of the decision says it gives “a large ground-floor kitchen/diner, ensuring sufficient space and good living conditions”. It records that the inspector “concluded that there was no material planning reason to refuse consent”. No costs were awarded (September appeals summary).

The second application, the one the committee opposed, adds a single-storey rear extension. That extension already has its own permission (26/00530/FULH). Officers say the internal layout and number of bedrooms are the same. In their words, the second application “would effectively just combine the two existing, extant planning permissions into one single permission”.

The report calls the appeal decision “a significant material change”. It adds that the committee’s 16 September position has not yet been sent to the Planning Inspectorate. The council has asked the inspector for more time to file its appeal statement while councillors look at it again (committee report).

The practical effect is that the house can already become an eight-bed HMO under the permission won on appeal, whatever the committee says next week. The 14 October vote decides only what the council tells the inspector about the combined scheme.

Officers propose eight conditions, including a cap of eight residents. Two conditions they recommended last time are dropped, for landscaping and for bin storage, because the inspector did not impose them on the appeal permission.

Also on 14 October: KFC drive-through until 3am

The same meeting considers a bid to keep the drive-through lane at the KFC on Greyhound Trading Park, Greyhound Way, open until 3am every night. Its 2010 permission limits it to 10.30am to 11pm (26/00865/AMDT) (committee report).

  • The restaurant would close to diners and walk-in collections at 11pm. After that, only the drive-through would serve customers and delivery drivers.
  • The council wrote to 94 neighbouring properties. Eleven people objected, citing noise, traffic, anti-social behaviour in the car park, litter and lost sleep.
  • The council’s environmental health team raised no objection.
  • Under a car park management plan, only staff could park late at night. The maximum stay on the site’s number-plate cameras would drop from 120 minutes to 10.
  • Officers recommend approval.

The nearest homes are on the other side of Sutton Road, about 24 metres from the building. This is a separate application from the 5am late-night refreshment licence sought for the KFC on Stephenson Road, Eastwood, which we reported last month.

What it means for you

  • Living near Woodgrange Drive: the eight-bed HMO has permission on appeal, so objecting to the second application will not stop the conversion. The owner will still need an HMO licence from the council before letting to five or more people from more than one household.
  • Want to watch: the Planning Committee meets at 5pm on Wednesday 14 October in the Civic Centre, and the papers are on the council’s meeting page.
  • Thinking of objecting to an HMO near you: the York Road refusal turned on the standard of the rooms and the cycle store. Planning objections carry most weight when they deal with things like that, set against the council’s policies.

Our planning applications page explains how to find an application and comment on it. We will report the outcome on 14 October.

Sources