HMO rules could be tightened further in updated draft of Greenwich’s Local Plan

Greenwich Council is planning to further tighten controls on new HMOs after residents said that its original plans were too weak.

Local campaigns have sprung up in many parts of the borough because of the growth in family homes being bought by landlords and converted into bedsits – or homes in multiple occupation.

While the extremely high cost of housing in London has pushed many people into needing HMOs, neighbours have pointed to cases of antisocial behaviour, the change of character to local neighbourhoods and the loss of family homes in objecting to conversions.

Controls in Greenwich are weaker than in other London boroughs because its planning bible – the Local Plan, in place since 2014 – has no explicit way of restricting their growth. This has left councillors on planning committees largely powerless to refuse the schemes, and Greenwich becoming a target for HMO landlords.

Last year, the council began consulting on a new Local Plan – which included some curbs on the growth of HMOs. But critics said these controls were inadequate. “Representations received in relation to Policy H7 were largely negative,” the council says in its summary of the consultation.

Now, for the next phase of consultation, the proposed controls have been beefed up. The plans will still have to go to a public hearing and be approved by an inspector, and will not come into force until at least next year. 

A six-week consultation is due to take place from July 27, although the council says this is aimed at ensuring the plan “is legally compliant and sound before examination” rather than making widescale revisions.

The relatively small minimum size for an HMO – 90 square metres – has been increased to 130 square metres, the same limit as was recently introduced in Lewisham, while plans to focus tighter restrictions on a handful of wards have been scrapped in favour of a street-by-street approach across the whole borough. 

“In areas where there is already an overconcentration of HMOs, further proposals will not be permitted,” the updated draft Local Plan says. “An overconcentration is defined as three existing or permitted HMOs within the nearest ten properties of the application property.”

However, the definition of “overconcentration” has changed from the previous draft, which only applied in a few wards. This said the council would not back more than two HMOs side by side; the sandwiching of a single self-contained house or flat between two HMOs; more than two HMOs within a run of ten properties on one side of the road; or more than one HMO in a road of fewer than ten properties.

Greenwich’s policies on HMOs were scrutinised by both the Greens and the Conservatives in the lead-up to the council elections last month. In January, the Tory deputy leader Charlie Davis told The Greenwich Wire that the previous plans “lacked teeth” and would do “nothing to slow down a trend which is changing communities across the borough”. He called for a 140 square metre limit.

In Plumstead, questions about council grants for landlords were raised at hustings, and Issy Cooke, a Labour councillor in Plumstead Common, said she would be pushing for a 130 square metre limit. Cooke lost her seat to the Greens, whose candidate Stewart Christie challenged her record on HMOs at the meeting.

Anthony Okereke, the council leader, said that the council had received 3,000 responses to the Local Plan consultation.

He told The Greenwich Wire: “I think that’s a win. That’s really, really good, and I think that those HMO changes we’ve seen in the  Local Plan will make an immediate impact following the resident feedback.

“The consultation showed an appetite for change and that change I think has been reflected in what we’ve done.”

Okereke said the original draft rules had been based around data about housing in the borough, adding that “the average family home” started at about 90 square metres. 

“But it’s not just about the size, it’s the multi-pronged approach that we take, like over-concentration, the points about sandwiching and other stuff like that,” he said.

The Conservatives welcomed the changes but wanted the limit to be moved up still further, to 140 square metres. 

Davis told The Greenwich Wire: “We said at the time of the draft Local Plan consultation, that the proposals from Greenwich Council were a good start but that they needed to go much further.

“We are therefore pleased that the council have listened to our constructive feedback and moved the minimum internal area much closer to the 140sqm we called for, as well as changing overconcentration from a ward level measure, to a street level measure.

“There is still more to be done to help protect local family homes, but these changes are a welcome start. We will continue to feed into the Local Plan process to ensure that the strongest possible protection is given to family homes in communities across Greenwich.”

Target for nearly 50,000 new homes

The HMO rules are just one tiny part of the Local Plan, which includes detailed descriptions on what would be acceptable on every site identified for development within the borough and covers the period from 2022 to 2037 – the plan is running behind schedule.

A higher target of almost 49,630 new homes has been set, up from 42,360 in the previous draft. Proposed and ongoing developments at Thamesmead Waterfront, Woolwich, Charlton Riverside and Greenwich Peninsula will account for a large proportion of this total.

Early hints at plans to redevelop some council estates remain, although the Woolwich Dockyard estate and part of the St Mary’s Estate opposite is now listed as being suitable for 1,020 new homes rather than 1,700 homes after representations from residents.

Woolwich Dockyard is the only estate where development possibilities are listed in some detail, but other council estates remain listed as “limited opportunity zones” for tall buildings, suggesting the council is keeping its options open. They are Orchard Hill and Coldbath Street in Lewisham; Frances Street and Samuel Street in Woolwich; East and West Glyndon in Plumstead; and the Abbey Wood Estate.

Much of the Charlton riverside is also listed as being suitable for tall buildings – including the site of Asda on Bugsbys Way, which opened more than 40 years ago and has been earmarked for redevelopment for some time.

Two new development sites have also been added in Woolwich: the iO Centre and Gunnery Terrace, which are industrial and business units inside the Royal Arsenal. Together, 750 new homes could be built while keeping the sites’ current uses, the updated plan suggests. 

A policy seeking to protect pubs has been amended after criticism from the campaigners aiming to save The White Swan in Charlton, although it keeps its emphasis on venues in Greenwich, Eltham and  Woolwich town centres, as well as Blackheath Village and the area around North Greenwich station.

The updated plan will be discussed at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, with the full document available at item five in the meeting papers.  There is no document explicitly tracking changes, but the previous plan is at item nine in the agenda for a cabinet meeting in November.

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