A HMO for up to seven people in Pill has received retrospective approval by Newport City Council.
The local authority’s planning committee gave the project the thumbs up despite local concerns about the impact of another HMO on the neighbourhood.
HMOs (houses in multiple occupation) are typically properties for between three and six single, unrelated adults who have their own private bedrooms but share other communal areas.
In this case, the council was only made aware of the redevelopment at 3 Baldwin Street after its owner applied for a HMO licence, which was granted in February 2025.
Pill ward councillors Saeed Adan and Debbie Jenkins both objected to the application and urged the committee to reject the council’s planning officers’ recommendation for approval.
Cllr Jenkins said she was mainly concerned about parking pressures in the area.
“Residents already experience significant parking issues, and many have raised concerns that additional occupancy at this property will place further demand on an already limited supply of parking spaces,” she said.
She added Pill had “experienced a substantial increase in HMOs over recent years” and there are “currently more than 53 HMOs” in the neighbourhood.
“Such concentration inevitably places pressure on local services, parking, waste collection and community cohesion,” she said.
“Pill is a community that already faces considerable challenges including high levels of deprivation and crime. Residents increasingly feel their concerns are not being heard, and the overall impact of continued HMO expansion is changing the nature of their neighbourhood for the worse.”
Cllr Adan, in a written statement, added he believed the HMO proposal failed to comply with policies on parking, and “represents a direct threat to highway safety”.
He also said the seven-person HMO would require “vast, commercial-scale refuse provisions” that would both “significantly impact the community” and be problematic for its tenants, who would have to move large bins through the property.
Case officer Jacob Cooke told the committee the application had also drawn ten neighbour objections.
But he challenged claims there were too many HMOs locally, explaining the immediate area had only two such properties and fell well short of a 15% maximum threshold.
Mr Cooke also told the committee the property’s bedrooms “all fulfil the minimum standards for HMO licensing requirements”.
Several members of the committee were concerned the HMO had already been operating without planning permission.
But planning officer Adam Foote told members the planning process is “not meant to be punitive” and hamper applicants who make retrospective claims.
Cllr Will Routley told the council’s planning officers he was surprised they didn’t find out about the HMO earlier.
He criticised a “lack of communication” with the council’s licensing department, for “not informing the planners that they had an illegal or unregulated HMO”.
“That could have led to some kind of unforeseen danger or impact on the community,” he said. “We should be working joined-up here. We should have been aware of this prior to the application being made.”
Members of the committee voted 5-1 in favour of approving the application.
