Councillors in Ipswich have rejected plans for a register of all HMO licensing applications in the town.

Instead, they agreed to try and encourage a national debate around prompting a change to regulations so that all new HMOs must apply to a council’s planning committee, in a bid to regulate numbers.

The Labour party group voted against councillor Richard Pope’s idea of a register, arguing that it would add too much pressure on officers, the Ipswich Star reports. He told colleagues: “There is a need to look into HMOs and regulate them in Ipswich, and we cannot regulate what we don’t know.”

Portfolio holder for planning and development, councillor Carole Jones (pictured) has written to Housing Secretary Angela Rayner, Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook and Ipswich MP Jack Abbott calling for a change in planning policy. She said: “I think what we need is a change to national regulations which state that every new HMO should send an application to the committee.”

Article 4 has been in place since June in some areas of Ipswich, forcing landlords to apply for planning permission when developing small HMOs housing fewer than six tenants. It covers large parts of Westgate, Castle Hill and Alexandra wards, as well as northern sections in Bridge, St John’s and Priory Heath, eastern areas of Gipping and Gainsborough, and parts of Bixley, Hollywells, Rushmere and St Margaret’s.

No record

Ipswich Council says because HMOs traditionally fall within permitted development, there are often no records of where these houses are, making it harder for councillors to identify issues. They suggested that councillor Jones write to the Local Government Association to make the topic a national campaign.

Liberal Democrat councillor Oliver Holmes added: “We have sympathy for the rationale behind the motion…we found that the planning policy was too restrictive. So, I am pleased that councillor Jones is writing to several people with regards to changing this.”