Agenda item

Head of Planning for NBC

HIMO’s are where there are more than one household living in a house. Usually 3 or more who have individual contracts. Aware the ways the town’s houses are being used are changing. Seeing people increasingly going into the rental sector. More students, single person households, benefit changes etc. Responsible to put planning policies in place to make sure this isn’t detrimental to Northampton.

Article 4 direction helps control any more than 3 people living in one house. The relocation of the uni is having an impact on Far Cotton and Delapre for example so different policies will be established because of this. HIMO standards are met by using a radius around the house, if there is 15% HIMO’s in this area then the application would be denied. Other issues such as rubbish/noise/parking generated etc. Loughborough university produced a study to look at the impact of the previous.

5 Recs from research.

Article 4 across the whole town.

Threshold comes down to 10% in 50 metres instead of 15%, overconcentration.

Be proactive on enforcement, there are unlicensed premises in the town.

Coordinate and collaborate the approach – all teams to work together and be on the same page.

Annual forum where landlords/stakeholders all come together etc.

Review if need for article 4 town wide.

Look at new planning policy statements.

Look at working more closely with colleagues with those in NBC.

If any concerns, get in touch with NBC, will need to take details but these will only be used it gets to the prosecution stage.

TM: There are some houses in the area where there are 3 or 4 families living in the same house, there is more parking/rubbish etc. and then there are garages being knocked down.

PB: If you’re concerned that there are too many people living in a property separately then contact the environmental wardens. If they are together as an extended family then this is their choice. Parking is taken into consideration when planning happens.

It is possible to talk to the County Council about this issue.

AT: When there are changes of plans/policies. People parking in spots near the train station as the barriers are broken. New barriers are going in but only those with cars/garage will get a fob. Although a lady with a scooter isn’t getting a fob even though she stores it in her garage. What also happens to the emergency services with barriers and family visits etc.? The terms and conditions to get the fobs are also very strict.

PB: When there’s planning applications need to take into place new parking and to make sure that this doesn’t impact the existing parking around the application.

AT: This week people have not been allowed access to their parking spots until certain times etc.

PB: Unitary could be an opportunity for more cohesive working as it will be under one organisation and not NBC and NCC but this will only apply to new build properties.

Planning committees are always subjective as we don’t know every detail, such as how many people will have cars etc.

RR: Mentioned you’ve been door knocking to see how many unlicensed HIMO’s there were. How different did you find the figures to the records that you had? Population hasn’t changed on the census to much but there seems to be a lot more people in the town and housing estates now as there was over 30 years ago.

PB: We do use the census for our statistics, one in two of the accusations of a HIMO weren’t founded, these are more to do with visiting family friends etc.

If the community have more of an understanding of what a HIMO is there may be more accurate reporting.

RR: Census determines a lot.

NS: Bus Station, NCC and the Uni have all have bad publicity. These have all been passed but there are many problems. Bus Station gridlocked, NCC no parking and residents not happy with the students.

There hasn’t been anything acted on to fix the bus station.

PB: When recommendations are made, my responsibility to make sure the councillors are informed about the potential impact of highway safety. County progress the roadworks, this is open for better work within Unitary as one council and not two.

NCC has no parking, the plan would be to use the town’s car parks and public transport.

Transport study is currently taking place regarding Greyfriars, looking how to find a way to use the site and bring it back into the town without impacting the flow into the town.

County Council use a computer system to calculate the impact of doing different things to highways.

ACTION: PB to be invited to a future forum to talk about the retail study.