Plans for HMO on Bournemouth's Christchurch Road refused
Council concluded the plans amounted to overdevelopment
Plans to convert a Bournemouth building into three flats alongside a seven-bedroom house in multiple occupation (HMO) have been refused.
The application was for 456 Christchurch Road, close to its junction with Drummond Road.
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council turned the plans down after concluding the size and layout amounted to overdevelopment.
What was proposed
The semi-detached building currently has a mixed use as a nine-bedroom HMO and hotel or guesthouse.
The plans would have reduced the HMO to seven bedrooms on the ground floor.
Three self-contained one-bedroom flats would have been created on the upper floors.
The applicant said the building had operated as a larger HMO for more than 10 years.
They also proposed professional management of the shared accommodation, including tenant referencing and dealing with maintenance issues.
Why it was refused
The council said the scale and layout resulted in overdevelopment.
Its concerns included cramped internal layouts, inadequate outlook, inadequate amenity space and poor living conditions for the people who would live there.
Officers also highlighted the position of some bedroom windows and the bin store.
They considered the proposed cycle store overly prominent and visually intrusive.
There were also separate reasons for refusal relating to the failure to secure appropriate measures to reduce the potential effects on protected Dorset heathlands and New Forest habitats.