A Cambridge petition on HMO planning safeguards

We want to make Riversiders aware of a new official Cambridge City Council e-petition calling for stronger planning safeguards around Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) across Cambridge.

For many residents of Kingsley Walk, this may feel particularly relevant given the recent planning application for the proposed 23-bedroom (46-person) HMO next to our development on the old Navadhanya site (73 Newmarket Road), which many residents previously took the time to comment on.

The petition focuses on a broader city-wide question: how Cambridge manages HMO concentration in particular areas and whether there should be clearer planning safeguards where numbers become especially high.

Importantly, this is not an anti-student or anti-renter campaign. HMOs are an important part of Cambridge’s housing mix and provide homes for many people who live, work and study in the city.

Instead, the petition asks the Council to consider measures already used in some other university cities (notably Oxford, Bristol and Manchester), including:

• a 10% HMO threshold within 100 metres, intended to help avoid very high concentrations in small areas; and

• Article 4 Directions, which would mean planning permission is needed before family homes can be converted into smaller HMOs.

The aim, supporters say, is to encourage a balanced approach to housing while giving communities and the Council clearer oversight where concentrations increase.

Why we’re sharing this

Residents at Kingsley Walk are already familiar with some of the questions raised by higher-density HMO development following the application for the proposed 23-bedroom/46-person scheme immediately adjacent to our homes.

In preparing the Board’s response to the planning application and reviewing the surrounding context, the scale of HMO provision already concentrated in our immediate area became clear. There are already 367 HMO and student bedrooms within a 0.2-mile stretch of our end of Newmarket Road, including two HMOs immediately adjacent to the proposed site. For many of us, this prompted a broader question — not about whether HMOs should exist, but about how the city manages concentration and maintains a balanced residential environment where development is particularly intensive.

Whether your interest is in neighbourhood balance, practical considerations such as waste and transport, or simply ensuring development is well planned, this petition may be something you wish to support.

Because this is an official Cambridge City Council e-petition, reaching 500 signatures can trigger a council debate on the topic.

If you would like to support it

If you feel this is an issue worth discussing at a city level, please consider signing the petition and sharing it with friends or family in Cambridge:

https://democracy.cambridge.gov.uk/mgEPetitionDisplay.aspx?id=112

And finally, thank you again to everyone who took the time to respond to the neighbouring planning application. Resident engagement makes a difference, and it is appreciated.

Tony Jewell

Chair of the Board

Cambridge Riverside (Midsummer Common) Management Company Limited