Details
We, the residents of Hampton North, call on the Council to urgently stop the trend of private companies (showing disregard for the local area) buying up small family homes, sectioning them cheaply and quickly into 6+ bedsits (or HMOs); to the alarm of residents; and detriment of the local area. Two houses on Bishops Grove and three in neighbouring Swan Close and The Alders are examples of this. For those living close by, amenities for these houses, such as parking, water and sewage, are shared and are not designed to cope with this significant increase in usage. An impact to local policing is also expected, as a result of antisocial behaviour originating from these developments. For those housed in these HMOs, they can be charged up to £1000 per small room, per month and are mostly thought to be in receipt of housing benefit; so in the end the public foot the bill. Finally, for local, young families in Hampton North, it is depriving them of scarce affordable starter homes to take their first or next step onto the housing ladder. We have reason to believe this trend will not end in this area, unless the Council intervenes now. So future neighbours of these HMOs, can expect frequent disruption by developers by building at unsociable hours; lack of regard for planning regs and permissions; disregard for health and safety (including fire safety); no party wall agreements; not informing or consulting neighbours; and stress on amenities. Neighbours of Bishops Grove have experienced this and are still waiting to be consulted about the conversion of these HMOs despite one HMO already being rented out. We therefore seek that the Council take measures to reverse the two properties altered in Bishops Grove back to their original state given the lack of neighbourhood consultation and direct and significant impact on amenities. Hampton North still has some affordable housing. This makes it very attractive for these developers to repeat this business model time and time again unless the Council steps in now. We believe that the Council should apply an article 4 direction under the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order 1995 to Hampton North Ward, “…to protect local amenity or the wellbeing of the area…” and to stop this practice immediately otherwise our neighbourhoods will be irreparably damaged. Please sign up and support our petition; Hampton North needs this protection.
Started by: B. HELEN REED
This petition ran from 10/08/2016 to 10/11/2016.
Signatures
15 people have signed this petition.
