COUNCILLORS have approved plans to convert a three-storey townhouse into student accommodation.

The family home in Neville’s Cross, Durham, is to be turned into a residence for five people, after the scheme was approved at County Hall on Tuesday.

The proposal, for the Dalton Crescent property, generated 20 letters of objection to Durham County Council, but councillors backed it by nine votes to two.

Planning case officer Paul Hopper, who wrote a report advising the committee to support the scheme, said: “Concerns specifically relate to the need to control the over proliferation of Houses of Multiple Occupancy (HMO) within the city to protect the housing mix and character of existing residential areas.

“Several respondents have also highlighted a concern that more than 10 per cent of properties within the area are currently student-let accommodation, citing in particular the presence of planning permission for two purpose-built student accommodation blocks to the rear of Dalton Crescent.”

The meeting was told the density of HMOs in the area was under the threshold at 8.2 per cent.

Mr Hopper said: “Residents have also raised concerns that should planning permission be granted this would set an unwelcome precedent that would undermine the council’s ability to resist HMO development within the area in the future.”

The property is currently a three-storey townhouse with a bedroom, garage and utility at ground floor, living room, kitchen, bathroom and WC on the first floor and three double bedrooms and bathroom on the second floor.

Works to allow the proposed change of use would be internal and involve relocating the current lounge into the kitchen in order to create an additional bedroom.

Councillors were told there were also concerns over possible increases in noise, nuisance and antisocial behaviour.

In a statement, applicants, Alan and Jane Todd, said: “The objections on noise and property disrepair are all based on conjecture, and likewise again cannot be guaranteed with a private sale.

“The current resident students on the street blend in harmoniously to the existing community.”

Councillor John Lethbridge, backed the scheme, but expressed reservations about the impact it would have on the area, adding: “We ought to be looking for families living in our city.

“We are extending the desertification of such habitation.”