138 Eccles Old Road, SALFORD, M6 8QQ

138 Eccles Old Road, SALFORD, M6 8QQ — Salford City Council — Appeal Decision Site visit made on 21 February 2023 by Louise Crosby MA MRTPI an Inspector appointed by the Secretary of State Decision date: 3 March 2023 Appeal Ref: APP/U4230/W/22/3305011 138 Eccles Old Road, Salford, M6 8QQ • The appeal is made under section 78 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 against a refusal to grant planning permission. • The appeal is made by Mr Dara Izadkhah against the decision of Salford City Council. • The application Ref 22/79382/FUL, dated 24 February 2022, was refused by notice dated 22 July 2022. • The development proposed is change of use to 10 bed HMO (sui generis) with bin storage and cycle parking. Decision 1. The appeal is allowed and planning permission is granted for the change of use to 10 bed HMO (sui generis) with bin storage and cycle parking at 138 Eccles Old Road, Salford, M6 8QQ in accordance with the terms of the application, Ref 22/79382/FUL, dated 24 February 2022, subject to the following conditions: 1) The development hereby permitted shall begin not later than 3 years from the date of this decision. 2) The development hereby permitted shall be carried out in accordance with the following approved plans: A1.1, A1.2, A1.3 & A1.4, all dated 21 February 2022.

138 Eccles Old Road, SALFORD, M6 8QQ — Salford City Council — Appeal Decision 3) The development hereby permitted shall not contain more than 10 bedrooms. 4) Prior to first occupation of and notwithstanding any details shown on the drawings hereby approved, full details of a proposed cycle store (to store 10 cycles) shall be submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority. The cycle store shall be installed and made available for use prior to first occupation of the development in accordance with the approved details and retained thereafter. Procedural Matter 2. Since the Council determined the planning application they adopted a new local plan, Salford Local Plan: Development Management Policies and Designations (LP) on 18 January 2023. The Council and the appellant have referred to the relevant policies in this plan in their statements. I shall deal with the appeal on the basis of the relevant policies in this most up-to-date plan. Main Issue 3. The main issue is the effect of the proposal on the living conditions of neighbouring properties as a result of potential increased noise, disturbance, comings and goings and demands for car parking. https://www.gov.uk/planning-inspectorate

138 Eccles Old Road, SALFORD, M6 8QQ — Salford City Council — Appeal Decision Appeal Decision APP/U4230/W/22/3305011 Reasons 4. No 138 is a large detached Victorian property located on the corner of Eccles Old Road and Rivington Road. The surrounding area is residential in character. The accommodation is spread across 3 floors, with accommodation in the roofspace. Each of the 10 bedrooms would be good sized doubles, all containing en-suite facilities. On the ground floor there would be a large open plan communal living/kitchen area and a separate laundry room. The appellant says that the target market would be young professionals, including those working at the nearby Salford Royal Hospital. 5. The amenity space to the rear of the property is limited but there is a large public park opposite the site. Part of the on-site amenity space would contain a timber cycle shed capable of housing 10 cycles. I saw when I visited the site that it is in an accessible urban location with a bus stop almost in front of No138. There are numerous services within easy reach of the property by foot, cycle or bus. Therefore, future residents would not necessarily need to rely on car.

138 Eccles Old Road, SALFORD, M6 8QQ — Salford City Council — Appeal Decision In my view only a small number of residents would be likely to own a car given the location of the property and the ‘affordable’ nature of the accommodation. 6. There was no evidence when I visited the site of problems with the availability of on street parking in the surrounding site streets. I realise they will be busier in the evening and at weekends, but the Council’s highways officer has also raised no objections to the proposal. On this basis I am satisfied that the small number of cars this development would be likely to generate could be accommodated in the nearby streets. Indeed, the number of cars is likely to be comparable with those that a large private house of this size would have. 7. The main entrance to the property is at the side, facing onto Rivington Road. This faces the side elevation of No 140 Eccles Hall Road, another large corner property. This is an urban neighbourhood with a busy main road in front of the property where there will be noise from people coming and going from properties in the area and from traffic all of the time, including this property when in use as a large private dwelling.

138 Eccles Old Road, SALFORD, M6 8QQ — Salford City Council — Appeal Decision Since the house is detached, there would be no impact on neighbours as a result of noise transference through party walls. There is only one other HMO close to the appeal site so the proposal would not result in a concentration of such properties. I also note that the Council is not aware of anti-social behaviour being a problem in this area. 8. I appreciate 2 Rivington Avenue is a house that provides a home to a number of adults who require extra support, but it is occupied as a dwelling house in planning use class terms, as opposed to a residential institution for example. No 2 is separated from No 138 by the garage and is orientated differently to it. I am satisfied from what I have read and from what I saw at my site visit that the living conditions of the residents at No 2 would not be harmed by this proposal. 9. Overall, I conclude that the living conditions of neighbouring properties as a result of potential increased noise, disturbance, comings and goings and demands for car parking would not be materially harmed. As such I am satisfied that the proposal would accord with LP policy H10 which seeks to carefully control HMOs and policy D5 which seeks to deliver a diverse mix of decent and adaptable homes.

138 Eccles Old Road, SALFORD, M6 8QQ — Salford City Council — Appeal Decision https://www.gov.uk/planning-inspectorate 2

138 Eccles Old Road, SALFORD, M6 8QQ — Salford City Council — Appeal Decision https://www.gov.uk/planning-inspectorate 2 Appeal Decision APP/U4230/W/22/3305011 Other Matters 10. Whilst the proposal would result in the loss of a large family dwelling, there are a very limited number of HMOs in the area and still a significant number of family sized dwellings. As such, I find that the loss of this dwelling would have a minimal impact on the family sized housing stock in the area. In terms of concerns about anti-social behaviour, as set out above the appellant would be aiming to let the rooms to professional people. Given the size of the rooms and the fact that they are all en-suite I consider this to be plausible and particularly given its proximity to the hospital. This in my view would reduce the likelihood of anti-social behaviour. In terms of littering the submitted plans show an area for sufficient bins in the rear yard, so the proposal is unlikely to result in bags of rubbish being left in the street. 11. In terms of the impact on local services such as GPs and dentists, the demand created by this proposal is unlikely to be materially greater than when the house was in use as a large single dwelling house.

138 Eccles Old Road, SALFORD, M6 8QQ — Salford City Council — Appeal Decision Whilst the property may be only partially occupied at certain times of the year, the majority of properties in the area are lived in permanently, thus providing surveillance of the area. Conditions 12. I have imposed a number of conditions in addition to the standard time condition. It is important that the property is developed in accordance with the submitted plans and so a condition is necessary to ensure this is the case. I have amended the Council’s suggested condition which would restrict the number of occupants to 10 since the rooms are doubles and so some may be occupied by couples. Moreover, it would be difficult to enforce the number of occupants. I have therefore revised it to refer to 10 rooms. There is a submitted plan showing the plans and elevations of the cycle store, but I agree that more details of this are required to ensure it is secure and useable and that it should be available before any of the rooms are let, to encourage the use of cycling and reduce reliance on cars. Conclusion 13. For the reasons given I conclude that the appeal should succeed.

138 Eccles Old Road, SALFORD, M6 8QQ — Salford City Council — Louise Crosby INSPECTOR https://www.gov.uk/planning-inspectorate 3