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Local opposition to a proposed HMO in Bargoed has failed to prevent the scheme winning planning permission.

Critics said they feared such proposals would alter their “tight-knit” community and heap pressure on local services.

At a meeting of Caerphilly County Borough Council’s planning committee, on Wednesday July 9, Cllr Christine Bissex-Foster claimed HMOs “often change the character” of communities and could have a “huge turnover” of people with few local connections.

She said parking and the road network is “already overstretched” and there was instead a need for “long-term housing” in the town.

“We are not against change – we are against the wrong kind of change, and this is the wrong kind,” she told the committee.

Her comments were in objection to proposals to convert a three-bedroom terraced home, at 50 McDonnell Road, into a five-bed HMO (house in multiple occupation).

HMOs are typically properties for single, unrelated adults who have their own bedrooms but share other communal areas.

The proposal also drew an objection from local resident Luyi Mi, who alleged the redevelopment could create “uncertainty, noise and unpredictability”.

She said Bargoed was “already feeling the weight of overburdened infrastructure” and claimed the McDonnell Road proposal would be another “huge” change in the town.

GP appointments are “almost impossible to get” and Bargoed is “full of parked cars”, she told the committee.

However, planning agent Hannah Dugard warned against “discriminatory stereotyping” of HMOs and the people who live in them.

Speaking in support of the application, she said the proposal “maximises the space” in the terraced property “without overdeveloping” it, and the plans had been “carefully thought out”.

The HMO “won’t have an unacceptable impact on the local amenity” of neighbours, she added, pointing out that various council departments had not objected to the proposals.

Council planning officer Joshua Burrows said the application was “deemed to be acceptable” and would not result in an overconcentration of HMOs in the area.

Several members of the planning committee had doubts about the application, however.

Both Cllr Mike Adams and Cllr Greg Ead noted it may be the first time a five-bedroom HMO application had come before the committee.

Cllr Mansell Powell said the “same concerns are being raised by residents” when HMO conversions are proposed generally, but claimed “our hands are tied” if there are no planning reasons to overturn officers’ recommendations.

“I understand the concerns of residents”, said senior planning officer Carwyn Powell, before reminding the committee they must “purely consider” an application based on planning issues.

Refusing planning permission for a proposal considered acceptable by officers would make things “very difficult” for the council if an applicant appealed the decision, he warned.

The committee voted 9-4 in favour of granting planning permission, subject to conditions.