'We wouldn’t put battery hens in places like this' - Outraged councillors reject ‘battery farm’ HMO plan for Smethwick high street

The move to open the 11-bed house of multiple occupation (HMO) above Viney’s Opticians in Smethwick High Street was rejected by Sandwell Council’s planning committee amid a warning that allowing the shared accommodation was turning parts of the borough into slums.

Residents and local councillors said Smethwick High Street was already suffering from overflowing bins, fly-tipping, rats and other vermin and blocked drains from several takeaways along the busy route.

The plans were scaled down from initial proposals for a 20-bed HMO submitted earlier this year and Sandwell Council’s planners had recommended the scheme was approved ahead of the meeting on November 26.

The HMO plans were condemned by neighbours in Victoria Avenue who not only criticised the potential problems it would cause in Smethwick High Street but the standard of the accommodation.

The residents said only a four-space car park for potentially 22 residents in the HMO would “inevitably caused problems.”

The resident, who spoke at the meeting on behalf of objectors in Victoria Avenue, said the management of the existing flats had been “non-existent” adding that the proposed accommodation – which only provided small shared spaces and no living rooms – was “inadequate.”

Councillor Ragih Muflihi, who represents the Soho and Victoria ward, said there were “massive issues with rodents” due to littering and overflowing bins from nearby takeaways and Victoria Avenue had been plagued by fly-tipping.

Councillor Muflihi said the ongoing problems were the ‘hardest among his casework’ and it had taken years to finally make progress with cleaning up the area.

“This will take us back,” he added.

Councillor Bob Piper, who represents the nearby Abbey ward, said he was “appalled and shocked” the council’s planners had recommended approving the application ahead of the meeting.

He said the influx of HMOs, many of which had been approved by government planning inspectors against the wishes of Sandwell Council, were turning the borough’s high streets into slums.

“We wouldn’t put battery hens in places like this,” he said at the meeting on Wednesday. “There’s no common space, there’s nothing.

“The space available for storing waste is little bigger than a cupboard… it is appalling. We’re turning our high streets into slums… If you drive on to places as far as Bearwood, you’ll see, it’s turning into a slum.

“There are great piles of waste because the planning inspector has approved something like 60 of these [HMO] properties on Bearwood Road.

“This is literally yards from a £20million visitor centre that we are building in Smethwick. And yards away we are putting 22 people in a battery farm. It is ridiculous.

“There is no way on earth I will be voting for this proposal and I would urge everyone else to chuck it out.

“It’s badly drawn-up and nothing more than a money-making exercise and we should reject it outright.”

Councillor Connor Horton, who represents the Great Barr with Yew Tree ward, and Councillor Luke Cotterill, who represents Old Warley, both said they were shocked the council’s highways department had not raised any objections given the small number of proposed parking spaces.

Councillor Piper also pointed to the recent awarding of £20m in government funding to spend on Smethwick in the next decade – with the regeneration of the town’s High Street seen as the biggest priority for residents.

“If anyone thinks that sticking that property there is going to regenerate Smethwick High Street you are living in cloud cuckoo land,” he added.

The council’s head of planning Alison Bishop said highways colleagues had been “pushed into a corner” through national planning policy as the area was classed as a ‘sustainable’ location.

The original 20-bed move angered residents in Victoria Avenue, a small row of houses behind the Smethwick shops, when it was submitted in March who said it would make “everything 100 times worse.”

The council had called the 20-bed HMO “out of scale” and “over-intensive” which led to the plans being reduced.

Despite the reduction in size, the prospective HMO plans attracted similar objections from neighbours.

A report by Sandwell Council’s planning officers had recommended the application by Quinton-based Pritam Singh Gill from We Want Any Homes should be approved.

“The amended development would not result in any significant loss of privacy or light to neighbouring properties, due to its orientation and revised design,” the report by Sandwell Council said.

“The previously proposed second-floor extension, dormer windows, and two-storey side extension have all been removed from the current application.

“The proposal has been significantly amended and reduced in scale and design from the original proposal which was seeking approval of an out of scale and over intensive proposal.”

The council said the original 20-bed HMO application received several objections which were repeated when the plan was scaled down and put to the public again.

After the planning application was submitted in March, several objections were made with neighbours saying they already suffered from the lack of parking spaces and rats and other vermin from constant fly-tipping which the HMO would make “100 times worse.”

The objector told Sandwell Council: “The council must not accept this application for an HMO on the parking situation alone.

“If we the residents are having issues already with the existing shops and flats on rats, parking, fly tipping, can you imagine the situation when a 20 room HMO is slapped in the middle?”

Another objector added: “If the HMO goes ahead, they will mostly likely be using our residential parking to park their cars and as residents we will have to park outside which is not fair because these bays are for Midland Heart residents and we have disabled residents and small children we will not be able to cope with this will affect all residents.

“The narrow alleyway where the HMO will be will get more congested because there are delivery vans congesting it already and an HMO will make matters worse.”