Controversial HMO plans withdrawn for Sunderland street after string of objections

Controversial plans for a house in multiple occupation (HMO) in a Sunderland street have been withdrawn by developers following dozens of public objections.

Back in 2023, Sunderland City Council’s planning department received an application to convert 8 Cuba Street in the Hendon area.

Plans from C&F Property Solutions Ltd aimed to change the use of the property from a ‘family home’ to a HMO.

The HMO property type typically involves multiple households living together across individual bedrooms but sharing other facilities, such as kitchens, bathrooms and living space.

At Cuba Street, developers were seeking permission for a five-bedroom HMO across two floors with two bathrooms, a kitchen and a dining area.

Following a council consultation, the development sparked public opposition with 27 public objections posted on the council’s planning portal website.

The public objections included a mix of neighbours from Rowlandson Terrace, Cuba Street and other nearby streets, with a range of concerns raised.

This included increased traffic and parking pressures, anti-social behaviour, reduced property prices, noise and disruption and wider questions about the HMO use.

One public comment said the HMO proposal would “begin the rapid decline of Cuba Street and surrounding area” and that the HMO would become an address for “transient clientele”.

Another objector said the proposal would “alter the character of the area” and that there had been “no indication given of the type of HMO intended”.

A Rowlandson Terrace resident added that approving the application would “set an inappropriate precedent for future developments which are out of kilter with the area, resulting in a deleterious slide to ‘HMO Land'”.

Hendon ward councillors Lynda Scanlan and Michael Mordey also registered objections to the Cuba Street HMO proposals in a joint statement published on the council’s website.

This included concerns about the plans “lacking sufficient amenity space for intended occupants”, which could lead to “all occupants [being] forced to stay within their bedroom”, as well as parking demands and the proposals having a “significant adverse impact on the character of the street”.

The councillors’ statement added: “To the best of [our] knowledge the whole street is made up of single‐family houses.

“Granting permission for an HMO will negatively alter the character of the street and should not be allowed”.

During the council consultation exercise, Northumbria Police did not support the application after raising concerns.

Concerns included parking pressures and “meagre communal spaces” within the HMO which, it was argued, would “encourage the residents to congregate in the street or isolate themselves”.

The police statement added: “A review of the communal space within the dwelling will aid in the community dynamic within the development as well as reducing possible adult anti-social behaviour as well as the perceived fear of crime”.

Elsewhere, concerns were raised by Sunderland City Council’s environmental health department over the size of some of the proposed HMO bedrooms.

A ‘holding objection’ was also submitted by the council’s transportation department in January, 2024, pending information being provided by the applicant around cycle storage and parking.

The following month, the city council published a notice confirming that the HMO plans had been withdrawn by the applicant.

A council decision report published on February 6, 2024, outlined the reasons for the withdrawal.

The council report added: “Pursuant to objections raised by Northumbria Police and three elected members of the council, a holding objection raised by the highways authority and concerns raised by the environmental health section, the applicant has, following the serving of notice that the application would be recommended for refusal, agreed to withdraw the application.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the respective objections and concerns raised by corresponding consultees relate to crime and fear of crime (Northumbria Police cite from experience that HMOs give rise to a disproportionate level of crime and disorder concerns), parking standards (insufficient provision), and spacing standards (insufficient provision)”.

For more information on the Cuba Street HMO plan and withdrawal, visit Sunderland City Council’s planning portal website and search reference: 23/02444/FUL