The Manager, Planning Applications, introduced the draft Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) Supplementary Planning Document (SPD), outlining its origins in the Council motion of 1 October 2025 and the need to progress quickly due to the national June 2026 adoption deadline. Members were reminded that the SPD supported existing policies by addressing HMO dispersal, parking standards, bin storage, and minimum room sizes.

The Chair invited questions and comments from Members. These included:

• Support for the SPD was an important step, alongside a request to explore whether a dedicated HMO planning policy should be developed and referred to the Planning and Transportation Policy Working Group (PTPWG) for consideration;
• concern about high concentrations of HMOs in certain wards (especially Sheerness), and questions about how such clustering had been allowed to develop over time;
• observations that deprived communities often hosted the highest concentration of HMOs while simultaneously experiencing reduced access to services such as GPs;
• requests for clearer data and methodology explanations — particularly around output areas, how HMOs were counted, and whether long‑vacant or fire‑damaged HMOs should still appear in the tables;
• strong concerns about parking pressures, with Members emphasising that surveys must reflect evening and overnight conditions, rather than daytime observations;
• questions about permitted development rights and the extent to which planning could intervene when householders carried out unauthorised or intrusive works linked to HMO conversions, particularly in relation to roofs, dormers and party walls;
• calls for additional training for parishes and town councils to help them understand concentrations, thresholds and the criteria in the SPD;
• the Council should temporarily pause HMO planning applications until the SPD was adopted;
• new policy should sit in the Local Plan or be developed locally at neighbourhood plan level; and
• mixed views on whether adding another policy layer would slow down the Local Plan programme or unnecessarily duplicate existing guidance.

In response, the officer advised:

• Parking surveys must follow recognised methodologies that identified and measured parking at peak times;
• many of the issues raised (e.g. damage to neighbouring roofs or party walls) were civil matters and could not be controlled through planning or building control;
• permitted development rights for extensions and roof alterations remained in place for most dwellings, including HMOs, unless explicitly removed;
• output area statistics were based on official census boundaries and lawful use classes; properties remained counted as HMOs until their lawful status changed;
• the planned Article 4 direction would remove automatic rights to convert dwellings into HMOs, requiring planning permission borough‑wide;
• the SPD provided robust policy guidance and formed part of the development plan; it was not merely advisory;
• creating a new HMO policy within the Local Plan would require an evidence base demonstrating specific problems beyond those addressed in the SPD and Article 4, and might impact timelines; and
• a neighbourhood plan could consider localised policy, but was time‑consuming and resource‑intensive for parishes.

Councillor Mike Baldock moved the following motion: That the matter be referred to the PTPWG for consideration and this was seconded by Councillor James Hunt, and on being put to the vote was agreed.

Councillor Baldock moved the recommendations which were seconded by Councillor Charles Gibson.

Resolved :

(1) That the new time constraints for the adoption of Supplementary Planning Documents be noted.

(2) That the importance of this SPD to the Council motion be noted.

(3) That  the draft Houses in Multiple Occupation SPD (Appendix I) be approved for consultation purpose.

(4) That the Head of Place be given delegated authority, in consultation with the Planning and Transportation Policy Working Group Chair, for the making of minor amendments and corrections to the draft HMO SPD document prior to the start of the consultation period.

(5) That the matter be referred to the PTPWG  for consideration.