PLANS have been filed for a new HMO in a residential part of Newport.

The applicant wants to turn a property into a house in multiple occupation (HMO), providing accommodation for five people.

The premises at 30 Harrow Road, in the Maindee area of the city, is currently an end-terraced house with four bedrooms.

HMOs are properties with separate bedrooms but typically have shared kitchen and bathroom areas, and are common places to live for students and single adults.

But councils tend to have regulations around the concentration of HMOs in any particular area. 

In this application, there are currently four bedrooms in the upstairs of the property.

If the plans are approved, three of these would remain as bedrooms and, downstairs, a sitting room and lounge would be converted into two more bedrooms.

The fourth current bedroom upstairs would be made into a "a first floor refuge for all the permanent residents should a flooding event prevent a safe means of escape via ground floor front or rear external doors", planning documents show.

A council officer from the highways department has already raised some concerns about the proposed HMO, saying they "cannot support the application due to the absence of three parking spaces".

"To comply with the current parking standards the property should have five parking spaces for the residents plus one for visitors, a total of six spaces," the highways officer added.

The plans have been submitted to Newport City Council's planning committee, which will review the application before making a final decision.

The HMO proposal can be viewed online on the Newport council website under reference number 22/1054.