A town centre terraced street where one in 10 of the properties are already houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) could be about to get one more.

Planning officers at Maidstone council are recommending approval of an application from Scott Nickless to convert a family home at 27 Charles Street in Maidstone into an eight-bedroom HMO.

There is no off-street parking for future residents but there would be six bicycle places.

No external alterations to the Edwardian building would be made.

All the rooms would have an en-suite shower or bath.

The council’s planning officers said: “There is no policy that restricts the concentration of particular housing types in any one area of the borough.

“Whilst the over-concentration of one type of accommodation can affect the character of an area, in the absence of specific policy or guidance setting a limit this is not considered grounds for refusal.

“In any event, it is concluded that the provision of 10% of properties as HMOs is not an over-concentration.”

In March, when he was leader of the opposition, Cllr Clive English (Lib Dem) bemoaned the fact Maidstone had no specific planning policies that would allow it to prevent too large a concentration of HMOs.

He said then: “We need to get a grip on this issue once and for all and commission the work to get the evidence of parking pressure in these areas so we can finally put policies in place to prevent inappropriate development.”

Cllr English is now a cabinet member and deputy leader in the new Lib Dem/Green administration - but no such planning policy has come forward.

In May 2022, Cllr Paul Harper (Fant and Oakwood Independents) asked the council to impose an Article 4 direction to control the explosion of HMOs in his ward, which even at that time had more than 155 properties converted to HMOs. His request was denied.

He said: “Charles Street is the wrong position for another HMO. It’s ludicrous. Local people are already moving out of the area because of the parking situation.

“When they were in opposition, the Lib Dems argued for tighter policies on HMOs and on parking standards.

“Now they are in power, they really need to do something.

“The residents of Charles Street need action, not more words.”

Ward councillor Kimmy Milham (Green) has “called in” the application for decision by councillors.

She said: “It’s insanity, cramming eight households in when the building was intended for one.

“This is a narrow one-way street where parking is already very, very difficult. Now instead of perhaps two cars there could be up to 16.

“There’s a school at either end of this road. It’s already busy, already difficult.

“There will now be eight bathrooms adding waste to the local sewer system - these properties were just not built for this kind of high-density use.

“That’s before we even get onto the number of waste bins that will be added to the street and the possible anti-social behaviour of the new residents.

“I know my residents have been very concerned about this for a long while, and they believe the building is already being used now as an HMO, without the benefit of planning permission.

“Existing residents already struggle to find an NHS dentist or see a doctor. Something has to change.”

Find out about planning applications that affect you at the Public Notice Portal.

The Charles Street application, reference number 24/502229, will be considered by the council’s planning committee at their meeting today (Thursday, August 22) at 6pm in the Town Hall.