Plans to convert a South Shields guest house into a HMO have been narrowly approved by councillors

South Tyneside Council’s planning department received an application last year for 83 Ocean Road, which sits near the Royal China takeaway.

Applicant Neil and Camille Properties Ltd was looking to convert the property from an eight-bed guest house to a seven-bedroom HMO.

HMOs are a property type involving multiple households living together and sharing communal facilities, from living spaces to kitchens and bathrooms.

The application went before the latest meeting of the council’s planning committee, where it was approved by six votes to four, in line with officer recommendations.

This was despite 21 objections being submitted by residents to the application, along with concerns from Green Party councillors David Francis and Sue Stonehouse, who represent the Beacon and Bents ward where the site is located.

Worries raised were around there already being enough HMOs in the area, and the latest development potentially increasing crime, antisocial behaviour, parking problems and impacting on the character of the area.

An objection was also submitted by Northumbria Police’s “designing out crime officer” who stated Ocean Road is a “high crime area” and HMOs and their occupants can bring “disproportionate impacts” on levels of crime and disorder.

The council’s community safety team had also highlighted there are “a significant number of HMOs in close proximity” and they are “regularly dealing” with reports of crime and antisocial behaviour in the area.

However, a report from council planning officers ruled there is no direct evidence the application “would be likely to generate, as a matter of fact, an unacceptable level of antisocial behaviour or crime/fear or crime”. 

It said: “The proposed use is considered to be acceptable, both in terms of its location, the ability of the property to accommodate it, highway safety, residential amenity, crime or fear of crime, 

“It is not considered that the proposal gives rise to an unacceptable over-concentration of HMO uses.

“It is therefore considered that, and notwithstanding the objections, the proposed use is an acceptable use of the property, it is of a suitable size to accommodate a HMO and is also acceptable in terms of the consideration of residential amenity and the character/nature of the locality.”

Councillor Doreen Purvis, planning committee chair, said she is “constantly approached by people seeking social housing because private accommodation is so overpriced these days”.

Speaking at the meeting, she added: “Don’t just judge everybody who is obliged to rent rooms in houses of multiple occupation by the same criteria.

“Often, and I think it’s going to become more and more so, people are going to be forced to seek this option because there is no alternative.”

Council planning officers noted two recent planning appeals in relation to HMOs in the borough had been allowed by the national Planning Inspectorate.

These were for a 10-bed HMO at 38 Baring Street, allowed in November 2023,  and a nine-bedroom site at 61 Ocean Road, allowed in October 2021.

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Councillor Margaret Peacock added if they refused the latest application it would likely “just come back on appeal” and be approved.

She said: “I’m no fan of HMOs but we’ve got to be pragmatic about it, good accommodation is hard to come by.”

Some councillors on the committee did raise concerns over the application however and voted for it to be rejected.

Councillor Sarah McKeown, Beacon and Bents ward representative, said: “Obviously we need to consider the other businesses there, you’ve got houses on either side, you’ve got the night-time economy.

“Do we honestly think that HMOs on Ocean Road are not going to negatively impact those businesses?”

Councillor Ian Forster also argued it is “an unfortunate reality of life that houses of multiple occupancy attract problems”.

He added: “Is that something we want to bring to a town centre as we move forward and attract people to come into the beautiful town in which we live?”

Proposed HMO floor plans for 83 Ocean Road showed six of the seven bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms, and a separate bathroom on the first floor.

In addition, communal facilities include a ‘breakout room/dining’ area, a kitchen and an open outdoor courtyard on the ground floor.