Developers wanting to turn Victorian villa into shared house face fierce resistance as hundreds object
People in a part of Merseyside are campaigning against proposals to convert a historic “Victorian villa” into a house in multiple occupation (HMO).
The plans would mean the detached property would change use from a residential property to a HMO for nine people.
A planning statement for 2 Litherland Park, was submitted by a company called Pegasus Group, and has been uploaded to Sefton Council’s web portal. The building is a two-storey residential property, described as a “substantial Victorian villa”, characteristic of the area’s historic suburban development.
The property was last occupied in January 2024 and has five bedrooms, four on the first floor and one at basement level which is a self contained. The last existing use of the site was residential, but it is currently vacant and not in a habitable state, according to the developer.
The HMO proposal seeks to provide accommodation for nine occupants, with an additional studio apartement for one other occupant.
The planning statement said: “The site is located outside of the Article 4 Direction for HMOs (Bootle, Seaforth, Litherland and Waterloo), which is located to the south west, which removed permitted development rights for the change of use from residential to HMO.
“Therefore, the tighter controls which the Article 4 Direction enforce do not apply to this site.”
However, the planning statement was submitted on October 2, two weeks before Sefton Council implemented an Immediate Article 4 Direction, applicable to the whole of Sefton, including Litherland.
The LDRS previously reported on Sefton Council’s approval of an Immediate Article 4 Direction which was ratified on October 15 and allows the local authority to remove permitted development rights from houses HMOs.
At the last committee meeting (November 12), the council used the Article 4 directive to refuse an application for a HMO, even though it was recommended by the local authority’s planning department.
The LDRS has spoken to residents local to Litherland Park who said petitions have already been signed and hundreds of objections had been submitted to Sefton Council during the consultation phase
The planning application for 2 Litherland Park has been submitted and validated, but is awaiting scrutiny by the council’s planning committee. No decision has been made on the proposal.
For the latest public notices from your area, please visit: https://publicnoticeportal.uk/