Cliftonville West Renewal Area: HMO
consultation
You’re invited to give your views to help shape community life
in the Cliftonville West Renewal Area.
The Council is proposing a policy to restrict
further development of one-bedroom flats, bedsits and houses in
multiple occupation (HMOs) in the Cliftonville West Renewal
Area.
Suggestions about restricting the number of
small flats in the renewal area were first heard at a Community
Open Day, held by the Renewal Team last year at the Winter Gardens.
Now your views are needed to help decide whether a specific policy
should be introduced and what form it should take.
This is your chance to give your views on the
policy.
How to have your say
-
On-line
questionnaire
- Postal questionnaire
- Public meeting on 10 October 2006 at the Media
Centre (the old Lloyds Bank building), 11-13, Kings Street, Margate
starts at 6.30pm
The consultation period runs from 1 September to 25
October 2006.
Why the policy?
Th case for a new policy
has developed from Councillors’ and residents’ concern about the
number of small flats within the area, especially the availability
of rented accommodation and the associated high turn over of
tenants.
Data from the last Census
(2001) supports the residents’ perception of the housing stock and
the population mobility within the area. The 2001 Census
shows a high level of households living in small flats; 60% of the
households in Cliftonville West Renewal Area live in flats, with
30% of the accommodation consisting of 3 or less rooms.
The high level of single
person households reflects the accommodation size, with single
person households forming over 50% of households in many
areas. The census shows a high level of transience in
the area with over 30% of the population moving within the previous
year of the Census.
The Council believes that the housing stock
in the Renewal Area is unbalanced and that this is perpetuating the
social problems within the area. The easy availability of
small rentable flats appears to be encouraging a highly transient
population, which makes it difficult for community cohesion to
develop. The transience of the population makes it harder for
renewal programmes and service providers to make a sustainable
impact on the social problems of the community as the people are
continually changing.
Government planning policy encourages
high-density residential development. However the Council
thinks there is a special case for resisting further new or
converted one-bed flats, bedsits and houses of multiple occupation
(non self contained accommodation) in Cliftonville West. The
Council is therefore consulting residents on their support for the
policy and how they believe it would improve the area.