Bedsits above city chip shop approved

Plans for a “house of multiple occupation” (HMO) for up to six people above a Hereford fish and chip shop have been given the go-ahead.

The plan submitted by Hereford resident Mandeep Singh-Boyal is for Mr Chips, on the corner of Commercial Road and Monkmoor Street within the city’s conservation area.

It proposes converting disused office and storage space above and behind the chip shop, and adding a rear extension.

Access to the house, which will have triple-glazed windows, will be by stairs and a new street entrance in the extension.

A previously proposed carport accessed from Monkmoor Street has been replaced in the plans by cycle parking and bin storage, and a flat roof on the extension replaced with a pitched roof.

Plans to develop the property goes back some years, with a permission for a two-storey house in the same footprint as the proposed extension being granted in 2013 – a permission “kept in place” by having the foundations installed, the current application says.

Permission to convert the existing first and second floor to an HMO was also granted in 2016.

Coun Jeremy Milln, who represents the adjacent Central ward in the city, said he felt that “crowded domestic accommodation above a fast-food outlet is not a sustainable form of development”.

But planning officer Emily Brookes concluded it did represent “a sustainable form of development in this location [which] contributes to boosting housing growth and social interaction”.

Her report recommending approval alluded to an unpublished comment by a council environmental health officer who considered it “unacceptable due to fire safety”.

But Miss Brooks’ report said the property will still require an HMO licence “to ensure the accommodation is suitable”, adding: “The layout and means of escape will be reviewed by building regulations [officers].”