MP McMahon calls for action on HMOs

Oldham West and Royton MP Jim McMahon

Oldham West and Royton MP Jim McMahon has called on Oldham Council to act on the constant stream of applications for Houses of Multiple Occupation in the borough and implement a boroughwide policy to ensure residents’ concerns are not simple shifted from one district to the next.

In his response to the Oldham Local Plan Consultation, the Oldham MP wrote: “Since the last consultation the prominence of Houses of Multiple Occupation has risen sharply, and I would press for action to be prioritised to address this head on.”

Mr McMahon said: “We’ve seen developers take advantage of the fact that the government has weakened local council’s planning powers when it comes to HMOs and it’s my strong view that Oldham Council can and should do more to implement a policy across the borough that seeks to address residents’ concerns about the proliferation of HMOs.

“This is about getting the balance right and not concentrating problems in certain areas.

"We have to make sure that whole streets don’t end up saturated with HMOs and end up creating additional pressures and conflicts with local policies in areas like public health and transport.

“I’ve long advocated that neighbourhoods should be helped to co-design the future of their place in a meaningful way, and a fundamental building block to doing this is to listen to the concerns that residents already have about the places where they live.”

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