Concern settled community becoming transient

COUNCILLORS have claimed a settled community in Swansea is being dismantled and becoming transient due to an increase in the number of houses of multiple occupation (HMOs).

- RICHARD YOULE Senior local democracy reporter

Councillors Hayley Gwilliam and Joe Hale were speaking against proposals for a six-bedroom HMO on Danygraig Road, Port Tennant, at a council planning committee meeting. It was one of two HMO applications - the other in Clydach that ended up being approved by councillors yesterday.

Port Tennant and neighbouring St Thomas have seen more HMOs over the last decade following the construction of Swansea University’s Bay Campus two miles to the east. More recently the University of Wales Trinity Saint David Waterfront Campus has been built in nearby SA1.

A developer called Behind the Corner Ltd had sought permission to turn the Danygraig Road property, whose ground floor is an empty takeaway, into an eight-bedroom HMO but this was refused by the council last December.

The company reduced the number of bedrooms to six in the current application, creating more communal space for future occupiers. The application was recommended for approval by planning officers, subject to conditions including that it must be limited to a maximum of six people.

Officers said a six-bedroom HMO would create a demand for three parking spaces, and that one off-road space would be provided at the rear of the property.