The long-awaited amendments to the two Orders relating to HMOs have at last been published. You can find them as follows -

Use Classes Order at http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2010/uksi_20100653_en_1 (this sets up a new Class C4: HMOs, and defines HMO as in the Housing Act 2004);

General Permitted Development Order at http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2010/uksi_20100654_en_1 (this allows a HMO to return to a dwellinghouse, without planning permission).

Also good news from Plymouth, Cllr Shaun McGall has found out that Halifax Building Society recently refused a buy to let mortgage in the city due to the impending legislation in April.

A North Somerset Council South Area Committee is set to decide on the controversial expansion of Bristol International Airport at a meeting this Wednesday [3rd March]. Officers at North Somerset Council have recommended the expansion be approved.

The plans involve the expansion of the terminal building and an increase in flight numbers. Environmental groups across the region are campaigning against this expansion, which will lead to a massive rise in carbon emissions.

Bath’s Lib Dem MP Don Foster joined other Lib Dem MPs across the region asking for the planning decision to be called in by the government. Don said,

The expansion plans for Bristol International Airport are clearly of a regional importance, and therefore should be called-in for the government to determine. What we need to see is real investment in high-speed rail links, not an increasing number of internal flights which will be highly damaging to the environment. The last major planning application for the airport, in 1991, was called-in, and I believe there is every reason for this application to be heard by the Planning Inspectorate.

Read the rest of this entry.

Bath Spa University is consulting on their initial proposals for the future development and combining enhancement of the Newton Park campus.

The University would like to hear your views on the emerging Newton Park master-plan exhibited here, which will provide the basis for planning applications coming forward in the future.

We both believe that it is important local residents of Oldfield Park have their say about the need for the University (actually both universities) to build and house more students in Halls of Residents on their campus and take some of the pressure off the local housing in our community.

Both Will and Shaun have already attended the exhibtion and have spoken informally with the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Frank Morgan, about the plans. We will be also adding our formal comments to the online consultation exercise.

The University has stated that local residents comments and views are important to them in helping to shape their proposals. Feedback from the exhibition and future consultation will be carefully considered as part of the ongoing design work.

The consultation documents are also availble as a large (6MB pdf) doc.

Please do respond to this consultation exercise and encourage your friends and neighbours to also respond.

Liberal Democrats in Bath are “over the moon” following the government’s announcement of new powers for Councils to control ‘Houses in Multiple Occupation’ (HMOs). Councillor Shaun McGall and Don Foster MP have been campaigning on this issue for 10 years.

Today’s announcement shows that the government has finally bowed to national public pressure and has given local Councils the much-needed powers to control the spread of high concentrations of shared rented homes. This will allow Councils, such as ours, to tackle pockets of unsafe and substandard accommodation run by bad landlords. Liberal Democrats in the city headed by MP Don Foster had been calling on the Government to speed up action on the subject. Local MP Don Foster said:

I warmly welcome this announcement from the Minister. HMOs play an important role in providing affordable housing, but a dense population can have serious effects on the local community. It is great that the government has finally realised this and changed the law.

This is good for local residents giving control over unregulated profit driven changes to the community. Good for HMO tenants, as it will improve standards and get rid of bad landlords, by providing a mechanism for councils to set up local landlord licensing schemes.

The changes mean that landlords will need to apply for planning permission in order to establish a new HMO with a change of use, for example when the use of a property is altered from a family home to a shared house, with three or more tenants who are not related.

We would like to thank residents from across the city who responded to the Government consultation last year following our campaign.
Read the rest of this entry. Read the rest of this entry.

Bath Spa University has been considering its long term needs both in terms of academic and student residental accommodation.

The University has been working with the Duchy of Cornwall (their landlord), the Council and English Heritage to establish the scope for development of the campus at Newton Park. There now want to explore their initial ideas with the local community.

The University has announced it is to hold a public exhibition at Newton Park on the 5th and 6th February 2010. For those unable to attend the exhibition in person, all the information will be available on the Bath Spa University website www.bathspa.ac.uk from Friday 5 February. Please put this in your diary and once we know more details we shall add them to our website.

It is important local residents of Oldfield Park have their say about the need for the University (actually both universities) to build and house more students in Halls of Residents on their campus and take some of the pressure off the local housing in our community.

Many local residents are furious that a new forest of “To Let” signs has sprung up across Oldfield Park. Residents think it’s quite unnecessary to have so many To Let signs when the agents are mainly trying to attract students. Students will either be looking online for accommodation or using the accommodation lists the universities provide.

The signs are also upsetting for the people who live in the houses at the moment; some have told me that the signs single them out as a house in multiple occupation and are an advertisement to thieves. Cllr Will Sandry said,

I asked the police, and unfortunately the Oldfield crime data confirms that student houses are targeted in particular at this time of year, when the signs go up.

Read the rest of this entry.

Bath MP Don Foster has written to Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government John Denham, asking him to call-in the planning decision to expand Bristol International Airport. In his letter, Don says that,

the expansion of the airport would have significant effects beyond its immediate locality, and has generated a large amount of regional controversy.

Read the rest of this entry. Read the rest of this entry. Read the rest of this entry.

The compulsory purchase order for the smallholdings at the rear of Oldfield Park Junior School has been made. The Notices were served on, Thursday 21 January together with first advertisement in the Bath Chronicle.

For more information, please visit the Council website at:
http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/BathNES/educationandlearning/Schoolsandcolleges/OldfieldParkJunior

Bath MP Don Foster is writing to the new Minister for Housing and Planning, John Healey MP, asking him not to let the response to this summer’s consultation on House of Multiple Occupancy (HMOs) drag.

Earlier this year, the government consulted on changing the use class order of HMOs which would, in effect, mean someone wishing to convert a family home into a HMO would have to apply for planning permission.

Oldfield ward Lib Dem Councillor Shaun McGall has been lobbying for changes to the law for a number of years. He said,

Where areas have a high concentration of HMOs it can add a number of strains to the community, for example in car parking and refuse collection. Councils have not had the ability to do anything about the rise of the HMO, meaning that communities, such as Oldfield Park, can change very quickly as private landlords buy family homes to convert. HMOs do serve a purpose, but they need to be controlled so that local communities aren’t damaged. That is why this government consultation is so important.

Bath MP Don Foster said,

This consultation was finished in August, but the new Minister doesn’t seem to have any expectation of when the findings will be published, partly because of the overwhelming response. I have written to him to stress the importance of this issue, which is affecting communities up and down the country. When we clearly need more affordable housing, it is important that councils have the power to prevent more family housing being converted into HMOs, especially in the most affordable areas of our city. HMOs should be spread across cities, not concentrated in certain areas which can have a massive effect on the local community.

Please see below for the full text of Don Foster’s letter to John Healey MP. Read the rest of this entry.

Liberal Democrats in B&NES are calling for the Government imposed targets for housing and other land use to be rejected and are saying planning policies for the future should focus on real local needs.

B&NES Council is currently consulting residents and others on a vision for our area for the next 20 years. Liberal Democrats have criticised the ‘Core Strategy Spatial Options Consultation’ document for being based on Government targets for housing and jobs which are based on flawed and outdated economic projections and which do not fit in with what local people really want.

Plans for the future of our area must start with the needs and views of the community and not be driven by ridiculous Westminster targets. We have previously said ‘No Way to 21k’ and we continue to reject the Government’s agenda to impose housing targets on local people.

The Government requirement to build urban extensions is a key example of a crazy idea dreamed up in an office in London. We oppose the proposals to despoil Bath’s beautiful surroundings by building isolated and soulless new settlements on green belt land.

Yes we do need more housing in the district, but we should first make sure that all present housing is fully utilised – this includes empty homes, flats above shops and basement properties – and we must make sure ‘brownfield’ sites are used before any new land is even considered for development. This will include challenging the MoD to make a decision concerning their surplus land in Bath and finally getting to grips with Bath Western Riverside.

Village communities should be able to work out their own local solutions for affordable housing for villagers, as Hinton Charterhouse has done.

Where we do build new houses we should insist on a high percentage of social and affordable housing – it is a scandal that our own young people cannot get onto the housing ladder because of high land values and high house prices.

A familiar problem in many parts of Bath is family homes which have been turned into houses in multiple occupation. We should insist that most students are housed either on campus or in purpose built blocks and the Government should take purpose built student accommodation into account towards housing targets.