By Alice Warner
Planning permission to turn a three-bedroomed terraced house at 25 Cambridge Street, Leicester, into three flats has been given approval from the city council despite objections from outraged neighbours.
The proposal is to transform it into three flats consisting of one bedroom flat on the ground floor, one bedroom flat on the second floor and one studio flat in the roof space.
This area, just off Narborough Road, is covered by an article 4 direction, which restricts any changes to a shared house, to prevent undue loss of family homes in the area. This application is for flats and not shared housing.
Mr Gibbons, from 27 Cambridge Street, objected: “I can’t possibly summarise within five minutes all of the discussions that have taken place in the last five years regarding this property.”
The biggest issue that was raised was the guttering and sewage system. The house was left derelict for years with no guttering, leaving Mr Gibbons with damp throughout his house.
He continued: “The access point to the sewer for 25 Cambridge Street is on my premises, so I have the access. It is me who has to call the plumber out and pay for it.
“If it was a shared house there is only one, maybe two people in the bathroom at one given time.
“If you convert it into flats it would quadruple the amount of waste going down the sewer. If it blocks, it would be me who has to pay for that.”
Mr Gibbons was passionate that this scheme should not be approved.
He added: “It is shambolic, the rear dormer has no windows in it, it is supposed to be a bedroom and it says no more work is required.”
Most councillors were in favour of this proposal. However, Councillor Ross Grant said: “We need to protect homes that could be used by families. I would be favouring refusal on the grounds that we could protect a larger home.”
It is now a three-bedroomed terraced house and therefore could be inhabited by a small family or a larger family.
The chairman of the meeting, Councillor Ted Cassidy, said this was a valid consideration now that this area could lose a bigger house but the proposal was accepted.
He said: “The officers have responded to the objections. I would like to accept the offers of conditional approval with the exception of an added noise condition.”
Mr Gibbons was outraged, before leaving he made a short statement to the committee: “I will tell you what you have just done.
“You have allowed a resident in Cambridge Street in such a shambolic way to destroy that neighbourhood and you personally and your committee will be responsible for that.
“You will be hearing from me again.”
