A planning application to add five more bedrooms to a four-bed HMO in Lowen Road, next to Newtons Primary School, has been refused by Havering Council.
The proposal – which was submitted by Redwoods Project, on behalf of a Mr Brander – was actually a resubmission of a planning application refused in September.
This version was refused for the same reasons, including that it would result in the “unacceptable loss of a much needed small family home” in Havering, and that the communal areas proposed would “fail to provide an adequate living environment” for the inhabitants.
However, the current application admitted that it was already used as a small house in multiple occupation (HMO) – where each room is rented out to different people who are not from the same family.
The property, called School House, sits next to Newtons Primary School, with the front lawn of the property next to the school’s car park.
A total of 16 neighbours objected to the plans, as well as one from a councillor.
Residents said that a large HMO is “not suitable near a school” and feared that, if approved, it would be a “threat to the school community”.
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Ultimately, the planning officer concluded that School House, with its internal floor space of 85 square metres, failed to meet the standard size for HMOs.
The officer’s report said: “There is a lack of a suitable internal communal area for all the occupiers to use simultaneously which would be harmful to the amenity of the occupiers of the HMO, failing to meet with the requirements of the east London HMO guidance and Local Plan HMO policy.
“The application is therefore considered to be contrary to policy and it is recommended that planning permission is refused.”
