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Local opposition has failed to stop planning permission for a new HMO in Newport’s St Julians neighbourhood.

Members of the city council’s planning committee heard the proposed conversion of 220 Caerleon Road was “neither wanted nor desirable”.

Ward councillor Phil Hourihane said HMOs (houses in multiple occupation) “do nothing for social cohesion” and had “no benefits whatsoever to the community”.

The agents for the applicant said the redevelopment “meets the needs of the community” and was in a “highly sustainable” area with good public transport links.

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

In this case, applicant Thomas Stratton, from Collective Living Ltd, proposed converting a three-bedroom house into a HMO for up to five people.

A ground-floor lounge and a dining room would become two bedrooms, and a kitchen would be extended at the rear to serve as a combined living space.

Upstairs, three bedrooms would be retained – and all five of the HMO’s accommodation spaces would have their own en suites.

Case officer Vicky Quinn told the committee the site “scores highly in sustainability terms” because it is on a bus route and 200 metres from “a range of shops and services” on Caerleon Road.

The council received 42 objections and a petition from neighbours during a recent public consultation period, with concerns mainly focused on “already overstretched, dangerous and stressful” parking.

Ms Quinn said council officers “fully acknowledge that parking is in very high demand” but said national planning inspectors were unlikely to support a refusal of planning permission on those grounds.

She said officers considered three more spaces would be required for the HMO, and it was judged “parking can be accommodated safely on-street”.

But Cllr Hourihane said properties on Caerleon Road were “built as family homes” and shouldn’t be “sub-divided”.

He contested claims the site was “sustainable”, telling the committee the nearby shops had been replaced by “fast food outlets” and one of the local buses was recently “withdrawn due to lack of passengers”. 

The St Julians representative also alleged the council’s own supplementary planning guidance was “out of date and desperately in need of amendment”.

A majority of committee members voted in favour of granting planning permission, subject to conditions.