A house share for up to 16 people in two properties on a Salford street has been approved by the council.
The two houses of multiple occupation (HMO) are joined together at 51 and 53 Victoria Crescent in Eccles, with an application made by Ms Danielle Jolliffe for up to eight people in each building.
They are located a short walk from Salford Royal Hospital, and around 15 minutes from Eccles town centre.
HMOs are often used to increase the amount of people living in a house, by turning rooms into individual bedrooms with shared living spaces.
Critics of HMOs say they are leaving fewer homes available for families.
Each room in the Victoria Crescent properties would have an en-suite bathroom, with a shared kitchen and dining room area for tenants to use.
There is already a licence to use the buildings as HMOs for up to six people in each house, so the planning application was made to expand this.
There are two other HMOs in the immediate area, Salford council officers said.
Six objections were made by neighbours with ‘concerns about loss of family housing and cumulative erosion of community balance.’
Another objector explained there are ‘severe’ parking issues in the area already, with ‘overspill’ from nearby Salford Royal Hospital.
A report by Salford council’s officers found that the expanded HMOs would likely bring a combined total of two extra vehicles to the road.
The report stated: ‘The Highway Officer considers this to be a minor increase which is unlikely to have a noticeable effect on the surrounding highway network.’
Councillors approved the application unanimously at a planning meeting on April 2, with ten votes in favour of the scheme.
Councillor Mike McCusker said: “This has a marginal impact in terms of additional people, they are all up to standard, the room sizes, it’s just increasing bedrooms in an existing HMO.”
Chair of the meeting, Councillor Phil Cusack, welcomed the fact that each bedroom has an en-suite bathroom to use.
Councillor James Prady said: “Just a side issue, I would actually like to see physically after some of these places have been developed, just what the conditions people are living in them are like.”
There are more than 5,000 people on Salford’s social housing register, with growing numbers of people presenting as homeless in the city each year.
