Councillor Debbie Andre has spoken out strongly against a move by Sandown Town Council to request a Supplementary Planning Document restricting conditions for granting licences to Houses of Multiple Occupancy (HMOs) in the town.
At Monday night’s Sandown Town Council meeting, members voted to press the Isle of Wight Council to introduce tighter rules around HMOs. The motion followed criticism from some councillors who claimed that HMOs in Sandown were linked to anti-social behaviour.
Cllr Andre, Sandown North representative, has challenged this stance, arguing that the approach unfairly targets vulnerable people and risks fuelling homelessness.
Cllr Andre said:
“The agenda item was brought to the meeting as a recommendation from the STC Planning Committee. Cllr Paddy Lightfoot, (Together for Sandown), criticised the providers of HMOs in Sandown, stating that there were too many of them located within both the Bay area and specifically in Sandown. He blamed the residents of the HMOs for the anti-social behaviour, which he said was negatively affecting local residents. Making his point, he cited evidence gathered in Portsmouth which has a completely different demographic. He went on to admit that there is no evidence of a correlation between HMOs and anti-social behaviour in Sandown.”
“Cllr Joan Solomon (Conservative) stated that residents in Avenue Road had complained about anti-social behaviour related to an HMO, yet I’m not aware of her engaging with other relevant parties to get the full picture. I think it is important to speak to all parties to get to the root cause of issues, not just trying to score points at the expense of the most vulnerable. The residents of these HMOs are also Sandown residents.”
“These Councillors should consider their responsibility to promote community cohesion. This is a direct attack on the vulnerable in our community and perhaps an example of the wider ‘nimbyism’ that seems to be gaining momentum nationally.”
Cllr Andre had previously proposed that Sandown Town Council should develop a Neighbourhood Plan to guide planning decisions. However, this was rejected in favour of the Bay Place Plan, which is now being led by Cllr Lightfoot.
She has described the Neighbourhood Plan as a missed opportunity and warned that restricting HMOs could have wider consequences:
“By wanting to restrict the number of HMOs in Sandown, other Town, Parish and Community Councils could follow suit, meaning there would inevitably be a drop in the number of HMOs across the island, and this would drive deprivation and homelessness on the island.
“I voted against the agenda item and will continue to work with all partners to ensure that all Sandown residents are able to enjoy a good quality of life irrespective of their circumstances.”
So ms Andre would be quite happy to have HMOs near where she lives, or maybe she would be happy to give the occupants a home. There are a few in Sandown, majority supposedly have issue of some sort, most of their issues are that the world owes them and don’t care about anyone near by.
Digital id’s will solve the problem NOT!
Quite right Sarah. The lady’s quotes are typical if well- meaning but deluded idealists. The decent, hard working and law abiding folk of Sandown are just as ‘vulnerable’ as the typical residents of HMOs, and the skewed way overly liberal minded people in positions of power look at things nowadays, even more so.
In a former life I spent some time in a HMO and I felt so sorry for the neighbours and locals.
The 6 residents (myself included) were all working and all had cars (6 more cars arriving at all times of the day and night), then there were the inevitable additional visitors, late nights back from the pub, early starts in the morning and as for cutting the grass and tending the garden, well that wasn’t even on our radar.
I’d regard “my” HMO as very respectable but those poor neighbours had to put up with it just so the landlord could rake in the rent…
Presumably, she doesn’t have to live next door to or opposite them. And where does she suppose all those incompatible immigrants will be living when the government closes the migrant hotels, if not in hmo’s?
I bet she doesn’t live next door to one.
Well perhaps if the anti social behaviour & addictions that invariably follow, can live next door to her, then see how she feels, we already see them in Sandown now all out of their heads on a park bench. !!
NIMBY
Not
In
My
Back
Yard
“I bet she doesn’t have to live next door to them”
Yes, the public record does indicate Debbie lives in Elmbank Gardens which I doubt has any HMO’s – but it does mean she has to travel through Station Avenue daily which almost certainly does.
Looking at current house prices in Sandown, there does not seem to be any correlation to HMO and it affecting house prices (Oddly the income multiple in Sandown compared to the household income of the residents must be one of the highest in the country) so the solution here is, if you don’t like it, sell up and move.