Residents on a leafy Worcester street have slammed local students for turning their road into a “ghetto” after it emerged that yet another home is set to be turned into an HMO.
Neighbours on Nelson Road have said the student housing is rupturing the fabric of their neighbourhood – while the overflowing properties have resulted in parking troubles and noise complaints aplenty.
Of the 68 properties on the street, 14 are HMOs (houses in multiple occupation) – that’s more than a fifth of all the addresses on Nelson Road.
But now, a three-storey home is set to be converted to a five-bedroom block – and though the landlord says it would be used to house restaurant staff, outraged residents have said it would likely house students instead.
Residents have fumed about the number of HMOs on Nelson Road
One resident – Susan Francis, who has lived on the street for 35 years – said Nelson Road used to be “family-friendly”, but has since been transformed into “a road where virtually every other house is a HMO”.
While another, Jayne Lewis, said: “The parking around here is a nightmare as it is – where are these residents and possibly another five cars going to park?”
Lewis said the area – St John’s – was “becoming like student ghetto”, a sentiment shared by fellow local Charity Byrne, who said it “can’t be made into a student village of sorts”.
Byrne added: “The HMOs already in existence are so poorly controlled – bins, dirt, noise, rowdy behaviour. They are an eyesore.”
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A resident on nearby Woodstock Road said he faced a similar situation there
Another couple in their late 60s and 70s said the transition into student housing has worsened since the local university – the University of Worcester, which runs a number of campuses in the ancient city – expanded further.
While they acknowledged that the local students weren’t “all bad”, they lamented the sheer number of HMOs on Nelson Road.
The blame, they said, lies with “greedy” landlords, some of which lived outside Worcester but snapped up properties there with the intention of letting them out to students.
One resident described how Nelson Road used to be a “lovely little street”, but vented about the damage to vehicles and “drug den”-like conditions in some HMOs after students moved in.
The University of Worcester has defended where their students live
Retiree Rob Skinner, who lives on nearby Woodstock Road, said he faced a similar situation there, with locals worrying about a “student ghetto” and landlords “only bothered about money”.
Worcester City Council declined to comment on the live planning application, but the university defended their students’ choice of residences.
The University of Worcester said: ‘The University of Worcester has developed a substantial stock of purpose built student accommodation in the city as have private sector firms – so there is a surplus of good quality purpose-designed accommodation for students in the city.
“More than half of our students are studying to become nurses, midwives, teachers, doctors, physiotherapists, paramedics and for other vital professions.
“Their valuable courses involve working for many weeks on placement in hospitals, schools and health settings.
“Many choose to live near their place of work and commute to the university to study.”
Source Agencies
