Rushden residents and town council respond to 'inappropriate' plans for HMO

Plans were submitted in July to turn 70, Higham Road, Rushden – a building formerly used by Three Counties Water into living accommodation – into a HMO consisting of 10 dwellings.

Rushden Town Council has since outlined seven key reasons as to why it believes the proposal is ‘inappropriate’, including concerns relating to parking, loss of commercial space, impact on the character of the surrounding area and over-development of the site.

A Rushden Town Council spokesman said: “Planning consultative members consider that the proposed conversion represents an over-development and inappropriate intensification of the site, with significant concerns regarding parking provision, highway impacts, residential amenity, communal facilities and the loss of existing commercial/employment space.

“Members have significant concerns regarding the wholly inadequate level of parking proposed. The development seeks to provide a 10-bedroom HMO while allocating only three parking spaces.

“The council considers that this level of provision is unrealistic for a development of this scale and intensity. Even allowing for the proposed cycle storage, there is a reasonable likelihood that a substantial proportion of occupiers will own or regularly use private vehicles.

“Any resulting overspill parking would place additional pressure on surrounding streets and could contribute to increased congestion, inappropriate parking and additional vehicle movements within the immediate area.

“A 10-bedroom HMO represents a substantial and intensive residential use. The council considers that appropriate communal living, dining, kitchen and recreational facilities should be provided in proportion to the number of potential occupants.

“The council is concerned that inadequate communal provision could result in an unacceptable standard of accommodation and place excessive reliance upon individual bedrooms as the principal living spaces.

“The scale of the proposed HMO, together with the associated parking demand, refuse requirements, cycle storage, servicing requirements and movements associated with potentially numerous unrelated occupants, has the potential to adversely affect the character and amenity of the surrounding area.”

A meeting attended by approximately 70 residents was held at the Bowls Club in Northampton Road this week for people to share their views on the project.

While much of the concern was about parking provision in the local area, issues also raised related to the availability of local surgeries, traffic, and access to local schools, which are ‘completely full’, according to the meeting’s organiser, Dorothy Maxwell, who said the turn-out on Wednesday evening was ‘surprising.’

She said: “I was surprised to see how many people turned up, clearly they’re thinking about the big picture. They all came along, clearly they’re worried as well, their life is there.

“Who is going to make sure people coming in and out are respectful?

“We clearly have to stop this, it’s not about who lives there, I know people are looking for accommodation and it’s not cheap, that concerns us.

“But there’s a real worry with residents about if this goes ahead.

“The issue is the whole thing, we can’t just plonk people in buildings where there’s massive traffic.”

A parking survey conducted as part of the application says that it is ‘reasonable to expect car ownership among HMO occupiers to be lower than a simple one-car-per-bedroom assumption. and the applicant, Rod Keith, said in the planning documents the conversion would ’preserve the established character of Higham Road and will not appear visually intrusive.’

The full application can be found online here or by searching 26/02126/FUL on the North Northants Council planning portal.