Rugby Labour Party’s candidate for New Bilton, John Slinger, is to present a petition urging the council to take action to limit the number of Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) in Rugby town centre.

The petition, which has been signed by over 350 plus residents, notes that too many family homes in the town centre are being turned into HMOs and that this can lead to negative effects suffered by the community, such as: pressure on parking; littering and fly-tipping; anti-social behaviour and crime; and that over time, the sense of community in an area is often diminished. 

The petitioners call on the Conservative-run council to limit the number of HMOs in the town centre by issuing an Article 4 Direction under the Planning Acts to require planning permission for all future conversions from houses to HMOs, and that such conversions will no longer be regarded as a permitted use.

John Slinger, Labour’s council candidate in New Bilton, said: 

“I’ve spoken to hundreds of residents while campaigning in New Bilton and one issue that keeps coming up is the high number of HMOs in the town centre. One resident, Terry Gordon, who lives in New Bilton, told me of a case on his road where a landlord converted a family home into an HMO for seven people and that despite the building work being in breach of various planning regulations, the Tory councillors on the planning committee waived it through.

“As a candidate, I believe in listening to the community and working with the community to empower people to improve where they live. I set up this petition to take people’s concerns directly to the Conservative Party leadership of Rugby Borough Council, because they have the power to limit HMOs but they choose not to, preferring instead to allow landlords, who often don’t even live in Rugby, to make money as an area declines.

“It’s part of a broader problem. As properties are bought up for conversion to HMOs there are even fewer properties for young families in the area to buy. The lack of investment by the Tories in social housing is contributing to a housing crisis and even the Tories’ own Housing Secretary Michael Gove has recently spoken of “our failure to ensure that there are homes that are genuinely affordable for rent, our failure to ensure that there are more social homes.” Rugby deserves better than this.”

New Bilton resident, Terry Gordon said: 

“I’m glad that John Slinger is making this a key issue of his campaign. All too often the concerns of residents like me and my neighbours are ignored by Conservative councillors. There always seems to be some technicality that allows HMO conversions to be rubber stamped. 

“What is particularly sad is that the council has the power to limit HMOs, but they choose not to. It’s not as if people are calling for an end to HMOs, just for their numbers to be limited and the regulations to be properly enforced in the interests of both HMO residents and the wider community.”

Leader of the Labour Group on Rugby Borough Council, Cllr Maggie O’Rourke said:

“Twelve years of Tory mis-rule nationally, aided and abetted by local Tory councillors, have shown that the Conservatives are not on the side of working people and their families. Our candidate John Slinger is highlighting an example of this. Rather than invest in social housing, or ensure that new developments have sufficient affordable homes, the Tories prefer to allow the proliferation of HMOs in our town centre to the detriment of the community. 

“A Labour-run council would take action to limit the number of HMOs. We’d also address the wider housing problems by exploring setting up a council-owned Homes for Rent company, working as a not-for-profit enterprise, renting properties at prices in line with current council properties, with the money being reinvested in future house building.”

John Slinger has written to Conservative leader of Rugby Borough Council, Cllr Sebastian Lowe to ask to hand over the petition to him on Wednesday lunchtime.