Dozens of residents fighting plans to turn another Filton family home into bedsits have been denied the chance to state their case to councillors, sparking anger. Labour Cllr Adam Monk, who represents the ward on South Gloucestershire Council, asked for the application for a change of use and extensions to 19 Branksome Drive to be heard by a planning committee because of objections from 59 neighbours and the town council.
But the request was controversially refused by development management committee chairman Conservative Cllr Keith Burchell on the grounds that no “valid” reasons were given for the objections, and the application was instead decided in private by a council planning officer who granted permission. Addressing the committee on Thursday, March 31 – two days after the decision was published – Cllr Monk said the system was “not fit for purpose” and that the householders had been stripped of their right to put their arguments to members.
It is the latest twist in a saga that has seen Filton become a battleground for conversions of family homes into houses in multiple occupation (HMOs). The council has introduced new rules designed to prevent an overconcentration of bedsits in any one area, but the supplementary planning document (SPD) has a loophole that means only officially registered HMOs are taken into consideration when judging how many there are nearby.
