The Isle of Wight council has been criticised for allowing too many houses of multiple occupancies (HMOs) so close together, with Sandown being a hotspot.
Sandown Town Council has agreed to write to the Isle of Wight council questioning its lack of management of where licensed HMOs are placed.
It follows the opening of a facility on Avenue Road in the town, by Two Saints, the council’s commissioned accommodation provider on the homelessness pathway.
IWC say it’s not an HMO
The Isle of Wight council claims it does not qualify as a HMO. The town council is seeking clarification on that point.
Speaking at a town council meeting on Monday, mayor Cllr Paddy Lightfoot said the facility ticked the boxes of an HMO as determined by the government, and yet the Isle of Wight council was saying it was not one.
Two properties
At a meeting held earlier in the month between Two Saints, Sandown Town Council, the Isle of Wight council and residents, it was said the facility was two units, with the capacity for four people in one and five in the other, so it did not need to be licensed as an HMO.
Lightfoot: A lot of unrest and ill feeling
Cllr Lightfoot said there was a lot of unrest and ill feeling about the whole situation and a lot of residents had contacted him after the meeting to say they were still not happy and he would like the IW council to explain the difference.
He said,
“We hope the facility won’t be a problem and I think a lot of the anger is displaced from behaviour at other HMOs, which comes back to should the IW council be managing where HMOs are placed.”
Almost quarter of IW HMOs in Sandown
From a Freedom of Information request submitted by Cllr Lightfoot, figures show Sandown and Shanklin has 23 per cent of the licensed HMOs on the Island.
All of Sandown’s HMOs, Cllr Lightfoot said, are within a 350m radius.
Sandown Town Council said Two Saints had agreed to come back and speak to residents and the authority.
Article edit
6pm 26th Nov 2022 – Headline updated to include Shanklin
This article is from the BBC’s LDRS (Local Democracy Reporter Service) scheme, which News OnTheWight is taking part in. Some alterations and additions may have been made by OnTheWight. Ed
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