Chesterfield shared house to be enlarged after crime fears dismissed

Two years ago the application by Dovedale Property to convert 20 Albion Road into a seven bedroomed shared house with communal facilities caused uproar in the community.

Addressing Chesterfield Borough Council’s Planning Committee on Tuesday, August 30, group leader in development management Paul Staniforth explained: “The refusal was based on an existing antisocial behaviour problem on the street, which was considered to be made worse with the addition of a further house of multiple occupation.

“The application was the subject of significant objection from the police, from the community safety team, from private housing, from many of the local residents and also from ward members.

“It was also considered that the proposal would increase parking on the cycle route.”

The applicant decided to proceed by converting the house into a six bedroomed premises, which they did not require planning permission for, and having done that successfully returned to the council for permission to convert the store room into the seventh bedroom.

Mr Staniforth said for the new application the council had consulted with all the parties who objected previously and did not receive a single adverse comment this time around.

He added that the police gave no reason to object to the addition of the seventh bedroom and the applicant believed residents had now had time to assess the impact of the shared house, with its current capacity of six bedrooms, and seen there were no problems arising from it.

“It is now the case that there are no legitimate planning arguments which could be used to argue against the scheme,” Mr Staniforth said.

“The envisaged issue of parking on the cycle lane has also not materialised.”

Rick Cusimano, director of Dovedale Property, commented: “Our tenant’s occupations include doctors, police officers, firefighters, carers, people working in sales, marketing and IT.

“I’m delighted to say we haven’t had a single complaint from the neighbours about the house since the first tenant moved in.”

He explained that his company provided high quality furnished shared accommodation with all bills and broadband included in the rent.

“Our co-living houses are convenient, centrally located and available at a single consistent monthly rent to provide some shelter from the rising cost of living crisis,” Mr Cusimano said.

The application was approved unanimously.