HMO plan thrown out over fear of crime

Plans for a new house in multiple occupation in Dudley have been thrown out by councillors worried about high crime.

Members of Dudley’s Planning Committee voted overwhelmingly to reject an application to convert the former Citizen’s Advice Bureau centre at Marlborough House, St James’s Road, into a 13 bedroom HMO.

At a meeting on July 28, committee members were told West Midlands Police had concerns because the site is in a high crime area and no plans had been submitted to deal with security management of the proposed HMO.

St James’s councillor Ivor Robinson told committee members residents in his ward were ‘deeply concerned’ about the application.

Cllr Robinson said: “The area experiences significant policing demand and crime prevention is a material planning consideration.

“We should not be approving development that has the potential to place further pressure on an area already facing these challenges.”

Committee members were told approval of the application would include a condition that the building could not be occupied until a security management plan had been approved by council officers.

The condition was not enough to pacify many committee members; Cllr Peter Drake said: “I have strong concerns about public safety.

“We have evidence for that – the police themselves say its a high demand, high crime area by the standards of Dudley.

“There is a risk by putting a 13 bed HMO there that it will inevitably make it riskier.”

Cllr Asif Ahmed took a different view, he said: “You get good HMOs and bad HMOs, it all depends on how it is managed, I’m glad there is a condition within the application for a plan to be there.

“We are working on assumption again, not everybody in an HMO is a criminal; my best friend at university worked in a top ten law firm and he lived in an HMO for four years.

“I’m not going to assume that HMOs are filled with bad people, I’m going to base my decision solely on planning grounds.”

Despite being told there was no evidence people who moved into the HMO would commit crime, councillors voted to reject the application on the grounds of fear of crime and anti-social behaviour.