BOURNEMOUTH is to become only the second council in the country to require planning permission for student houses and bedsits.

The decision to seek extra controls on the numbers of houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) comes following concerns about the high levels of student properties in specific areas of the town, particularly Winton where “studentification” has been a long-running issue.

Cabinet members agreed to implement an “Article 4 Directive,” which will require anyone seeking to change the use of their property from a private home to a HMO to apply for planning permission.

But the earliest this can come into force is in 12 months’ time – until then there is little the council can do to prevent further family houses from being converted into HMOs. Council records show that there are around 2,000 properties in the town occupied by students. But this does not account for all HMOs – others are occupied by young people, those on lower incomes and migrant workers.

Conservative Cllr David Smith, cabinet member for communities, said the only other council going down this route was Manchester.

“This is not a mechanism for stopping all HMOs in the future,” he warned.

“But it will be a method we can use to try and control the heavy growth in certain areas that we all know about.”

Anson Westbrook, chair of the Winton Forum, said: “We’re delighted that the cabinet has taken the initiative on this issue, we at the Winton Forum have been promoting this for several years.”

But he added residents still felt it unfair that HMO applications would not carry a fee, unlike the vast majority of planning applications.