Councillors have rejected plans for a new shared house for students by applying a new planning rule that has not even gained approval.
A landlord was told permission would not be granted for a seven bed house in multiple occupation (HMO) in Portsmouth because the switch would mean more than 10 per cent of the homes in the street would be shared.
The council’s planning committee claim they can apply the rule because the details have been sent to the Communities and Local Government Department (CLG) seeking approval.
The rule is part of the council’s local plan, which lays out guidelines to developers for building in the city for several years.
The 10 per cent planning regulation is in response to complaints from residents about increasing numbers of student homes encroaching on their neighbourhoods.
Portsmouth planning Councillor Lee Hunt said: “We have struggled with this issue for a long time. We can’t remove the houses which have already been converted, but we can stop too many more conversions.”
Oxford City Council has recently turned down planning permission for a new student shared house on the grounds the development would increase the ratio of HMOs to more than 20 per cent of any 100 metre of kerb in a street.
Councillors in Oxford are also investigating 700 alleged breaches of council tax exemptions for students in the city.
Residents claim the homes are breaking council tax rules because they are not fully let to students, so the payment exemption does not apply.
Councillors and residents fear figures from universities about the number of students living in the city are not accurate and are not checked by the council, which has led to a massive loss of tax revenue.
Councillor Colin Cook said: “It seems there are more students than the figures we get from the universities seem to indicate, but I believe the universities are giving us figures in good faith.
“It is a question of how much effort the council should put into this. I don’t think you need to be accurate to the last single student.”
