Wigan Council: To Introduce Article 4 Directory

Forth Action Invest on December 6, 2020

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On Thursday 4th July Wigan Council met to discuss the introduction of Article 4 which will remove permitted development rights for changes of use from individual dwelling houses to small houses in multiple occupation in Swinley and Central Leigh.

There are said to be 106 HMO’s within the borough, with the main concentration being in Swinley and Leigh Town Centre. Estimated at 31 and 20 respectively.

This will see Wigan Council taking a similar stance to that of neighbouring city Manchester. For more information on Manchester’s Article 4 Direction go over to our blog post

Market Condition

This will no doubt increase the quality of existing HMO’s as well as prevent any more poorly developed HMO’s coming to the Market. In 2017/18 the council received 7 planning applications for conversion to HMO’s in Swinley, more than in the previous five years combined. Overall, between 2012/13 and 2018/19 the council received 34 planning applications for conversions to HMO’s, with 15 of these in Swinley (44%) and 8 in central Leigh (24%).

When will this come into Effect?

Should the Cabinet approve the making of a non-immediate article 4 direction, the broad timeline thereafter is as follows:

 Serve notice locally and to the Secretary of State in July 2019 with a consultation period of at least 21 days.

 Consideration of consulted comments and determination of whether to confirm the non-immediate direction, August 2019.

 If confirmed,Article 4 direction comes into force, January 2020.