“Terrible noise insulation” has scuppered a plan to turn a family home in Brislington into a massive shared house. A landlord is applying to Bristol City Council for planning permission to convert the home into a six-bed house in multiple occupation for up to nine people.
Builders carrying out work on the terraced house on Wick Road has sparked complaints from neighbours and fears that future residents would also cause a nuisance. Around 50 people living in the area are objecting to the planning application, as HMOs are proliferating there.
Other concerns included the impact on parking pressures on the road and nearby streets. Councillors on the development control B committee on Wednesday, January 29, decided to defer the application, pending further evidence on noise and harm to residential amenity.
Speaking to the committee, Kevin Brennan, a local resident, said: “I’m concerned that it’s a loss of a family home. The previous occupants were two adults and two children. We’re now seeing an application that would put nine adults into a medium-sized terraced house.”
Other residents submitted written statements to the committee anonymously, with one complaining about the “terrible noise insulation” in the walls between the terraced houses.
Labour Councillor Katja Hornchen, representing Brislington East, added: “A lot of local residents are worried about the density of HMOs. I know that the behaviour of the applicant is not usually a planning matter, but under these circumstances it’s so extreme. There’s been a lot of threats, calling through letter boxes, fires, all sorts of things have been happening. People are scared.”
The landlord applying for planning permission did not attend the committee meeting to speak about his plans. One councillor claimed HMOs in another part of Bristol have forced long-term residents to “leave in droves”, partly due to flaws in how the council tries to regulate landlords.
Green Cllr Guy Poultney said: “In my ward people have started leaving in droves. It’s quite rare you find people in Cotham who haven’t had to move, due to the loss of residential amenity caused by the massive overconcentration of HMOs on some streets in that ward.
“There are areas where you have such a concentration of HMOs that every single night you just get that constant boom boom boom bass sound, because every night is someone’s birthday. Is there a cumulative effect felt by residents in this area? I want to see if there’s evidence that can be collected, to back up what the residents are saying.”