Conversion of Ipswich town centre flats into shared homes rejected by councillors

The conversion of town centre flats into shared homes has been rejected by councillors.

A bid to turn three flats at Maritime House, in St Helen's Street, Ipswich, into three separate Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) was discussed by planning committee councillors yesterday morning.

Under the plans submitted by Courtney Bryan, each HMO would have three bedrooms.

The building dates back to the late 1980s as a former block of offices, before being converted into flats in May last year.

Despite having no objections from neighbours and officers, who recommended the plans for approval, councillors were sceptical.

Cllr Adam Rae said he disagreed with the planning officer's view that it would be unreasonable to classify the flats as family homes, which would trigger a specific planning policy weighing against the conversion.

The comments represent a wider council crackdown on new HMOs in the town, following the implementation of an Article 4 Direction area, removing permitted development rights to turn homes into small HMOs and requiring planning applications to be submitted to the authority.

Cllr Carole Jones, who played a significant part in restricting this type of development, agreed.

She said: “There’s clearly a purely financial motive behind this application, given that they had a perfectly reasonable application approved for three flats

"The assumption that a flat cannot be a family accommodation is not correct — we see flats everywhere, and families come in different shapes and sizes."

The plans were refused with 10 votes for and one abstention.