AN OFFICE building in Newport city centre could be turned back into a house after council planners approved a HMO application.
The property is a former caretaker’s residence for the old Queens Comprehensive School, and is located in School Lane, behind the city’s main shopping area of Commercial Street.
After spending the past 15 years as offices, the building could now be re-converted back into residential use – this time as a five-bedroom HMO (house in multiple occupation).
HMOs typically accommodate single adults in private bedrooms, but with shared facilities such as living rooms or kitchens.
Plans for the School Lane HMO show two bedrooms, a kitchen, bathroom and a living/dining room will be on the ground floor.
Upstairs will contain the other three bedrooms and another bathroom.
Outside, a boundary wall will be partially demolished to make way for two off-road parking spaces.
A planning statement submitted on behalf of applicant Peter Bacon, noted “several local commercial property agents have informed that there is very low demand for this type of commercial office building in this location, whereas demand for affordable shared accommodation is very high”.
Many local authorities, including Newport City Council, place restrictions on the concentration of HMOs in neighbourhoods, but in this case planning officers found no other HMOs within a 50-metre radius of the application site.
They granted planning permission for the HMO subject to several conditions and the payment of £2,064 towards affordable housing in Newport.
