COUNCILLORS are being urged to agree on action to restrict the growth of student housing in parts of York.

As The Press reported last week, the impact of York’s increasing student numbers on the city’s housing stock is coming under the spotlight at a City of York Council local development framework working group meeting today.

Now members are being urged by Fulford councillor Keith Aspden to support proposals to introduce local controls on turning homes into Houses of Multiple Occupancy (HMO), many of which become student lets.

He said planning permission was currently needed before a home could be turned into an HMO under rules introduced by the previous Government, but the new coalition Government had recently stated it planned to scrap the national requirement later this year, in favour of allowing local councils deciding for themselves if they wish to introduce planning controls.

Councillor Aspden said: “By requiring HMOs to have planning permission, we can look at potential problems and ensure that concerns are addressed before anything is done.

“We need to be able to look at where HMOs are located and work to ensure that areas don’t become dominated by them and that they are located in areas most able to deal with the impact.”