Fly-tipping, drug paraphernalia and graffiti... could street’s troubles be fixed by tightening planning rules?
decline of a Derby street plagued by litter, fly-tipping and graffiti is due to Derby City Council’s “loose planning regulations”, a worried campaigner has said.
Sassi Stark is on a mission to clean up “the once beautiful” Hartington Street after being left dismayed by the state of the road since taking up residence close by.
The 29-year-old is fighting for improvements on the street and to increase community spirit in an area which she says has “lost its identity”.
A recent visit to the street by the Local Democracy Reporting Service saw it strewn with litter, which included many bulky waste items left in front of homes such as mattresses, sofas, chairs, cookers and fridge freezers. And several of the homes appeared to look run down and in need of makeovers.
But Miss Stark firmly believes Derby City Council is to blame for the demise of the street over the years. She says it has approved too many bedsit-type planning applications, which she believes have caused a knock-on effect on the street’s reputation and appearance.
Currently, the council does not impose any restriction to prevent the conversion of a dwelling house to a “house in multiple occupation” of up to six bedrooms. This means many homes in Derby can be lived in by six individual people from different households.
Miss Stark, who works as a construction manager, is calling for the council to change its planning policy and enforce “Article 4 Planning Law” which effectively means that plans for a bedsit house of any size would need planning consent.
She said: “Currently, the Hartington Street and Arboretum Conservation Areas are suffering. Hartington Street in particular holds onto a reputation that is not without cause, yet it is one of the most architecturally-significant streets we have in Derby city centre.
“Hartington Street was built in the Victorian era, in the 1880s. Back then it housed local gentry and was enclosed by guarded gates at either end, which has since been lost.
“Since then, it has become the norm for large houses to fall into a certain amount of disrepair, or be divided into smaller rental dwellings, leading to these types of properties being down-valued on the market. “It may come as a surprise to many that currently, Derby does not have any restriction to prevent the conversion of a dwelling house to a house in multiple occupation up to six beds. So you could buy a house in the city and next door to you may end up with six new occupants without you being able to object.
“This once-beautiful, grand area of Derby is now strewn with litter, drug-taking paraphernalia, sofas, fridges and broken glass. This is a problem created by our loose planning regulations, and lack of cohesive vision and strategic approach to city planning within the local council.
“Planning (department) needs to take more responsibility on these issues because they have the power to impact how desirable an area can be.
“Many councillors, across multi THE ple parties, understand the importance and impact that putting Article 4 in place would have on the city, which begs the question as to why it has not yet been implemented. This legislation could improve entire areas, allowing for a more sustainable and desirable future for the city of Derby.”
A council spokesperson said the authority is “considering” the idea of enforcing the Article 4 rule within its future planning policy.
The spokesperson said: “The use of Article 4 is an area that is being considered by officers and is the subject of ongoing discussions with councillors.”
“This is one of the wideranging housing policy and resource issues to consider carefully for HMOs and it is not a simple quick fix solution. We are aware that the Hartington Street area is subject to some challenging issues such as graffiti and fly tipping and these are not a straightforward by-product of planning regulations. We continue to encourage residents to work with us to address these issues within our neighbourhoods.
“Our environmental protection team has recently undertaken enforcement action in relation to flytipping on the street as a result of intelligence from one of the landlords. We have also started to develop a collaborative relationship with landlords on Hartington Street with the reinvigoration of Hartington Street landlord forum. We hope that by working in partnership to deliver our Better Together approach in the area will help bring some lasting improvements.”
This once-beautiful, grand area of Derby is now strewn with litter, drug-taking paraphernalia, sofas, fridges and broken glass.
Sassi Stark