| The Lord Provost said there was a danger the city’s licensing committee was ignoring the plight of people with a long-term stake in their community in favour of students who had only a transient interest in their surroundings.
The proliferation of houses of multiple occupancy (HMOs) in the West End was highlighted at today’s committee with councillors having no fewer than 13 HMOs in that part of the city to consider.
All but one were approved. The unlucky applicant, Andrew Main, was seeking a licence for the house at 48 Seymour Street, but his application attracted nine letters of objection, two of which were ruled incompetent.
The other seven listed a catalogue of problems revolving around excessive noise, illegal parking, broken fencing and an untidy garden.
Mr Main told the committee that the fences had been removed 18 months ago and the leases his tenants signed required them to maintain the garden in good order.
His application was rejected by eight votes to two, but another for a house at 6a Westfield Place by Mr A Hussein, which also attracted letters of objection, was approved by five votes to four.
Residents opposed to the application cited noise, parking problems and litter as their main concerns.
The committee’s legal adviser said there were currently eight HMOs in Westfield Place.
Mr Letford, who argued against the Westfield Place application, described the objections as “substantial”.
He said, “We can’t continue to ignore people who are in these (neighbouring) houses. They buy these houses, some of them family houses, and want to live in peace and quiet.
“The problem they have is the people who move into the HMOs. Universities have recognised this and have taken steps with student residences, but we can’t continue having the people of our city harassed and undermined.
“Universities have shown the way forward, but we have to play a part and we won’t be if we grant this application. These objections have to be recognised.”
The Lord Provost was supported by Councillor Neil Powrie who said there was a “serious imbalance” of HMOs in the West End of the city.
If the committee kept on granting applications in Westfield Place, the imbalance would become “intolerable” for local residents, he argued.
He added, “We have to start taking the views and concerns of the local community into account rather more than we have in the past.
“I don’t think it’s right that we should make lives worse for the citizens of Dundee who have their homes in these streets.”
Other HMO licences granted for West End properties, which were all approved without debate, were in Shaftesbury Place, Seafield Road, Hawkhill, Magdalen Yard Road, Shepherds Loan and Perth Road.
Other applications for houses in Seafield Road, Westfield Place, Larch Street and Peddie Street were deferred for a later meeting of the committee. |
