Sutton Council wants empty 10 Hillcroome Road to house six single-parent families in temporary rooms. 15 objections so far; comments close 14 October.

Sutton Council has applied to itself for planning permission to turn an empty family house on Hillcroome Road into temporary accommodation for six single-parent families. The house, at number 10, is in the Sutton South ward.

The application, DM2026/00843, has drawn 15 comments, all of them objections, with none in support. Comments can still be made until Wednesday 14 October. (Sutton planning register)

What the council wants to do

The applicant is the London Borough of Sutton, at the Civic Offices. Its application form says the house “will be used as temporary accommodation for single parent families supported by LBS Children’s Services”. (Application form)

The form says:

  • the existing six large bedrooms and four bathrooms will be kept
  • no structural or external changes are proposed
  • the ground-floor office will become a playroom
  • extra units, worktops and cooking facilities will go into the kitchen
  • fire safety will be upgraded throughout, and a new boiler will lift the energy rating from D to B
  • there is off-road parking for one car, with bins at the end of the driveway
  • Sutton Housing Partnership will manage the house, and each family will have its own social worker

The house has been empty “for a number of years”, according to the form. It was last leased to a housing association to house a family with care needs. The council says the plan “will provide much needed short term accommodation for vulnerable families”.

The form also says the house will not be registered as a house in multiple occupation, because the council will run it. It says the council’s environmental health team has approved the plans as meeting HMO standards.

The description has changed

When the first comments came in, the register described the plan as a change to Class C4, a small HMO. The description has since changed to Class C2, a “residential institution”, with six rooms. The site notices put up on 23 September carry the C2 wording. (Planning register documents)

Several objectors had argued that C4 did not fit. Class C4 covers three to six unrelated people sharing a house. Six families, each with at least one child, would be more people than that.

What objectors say

The objections we read came from neighbours on The Ridgway and Mayfield Road, among others. Several say they do not object to the families themselves. Their points include:

  • numbers: the application does not say how many adults and children could live there
  • parking: one space for six households, plus visits from social workers and support staff
  • bins: storage sized for one family, not six
  • character: the street is in what objectors call the Highfields Area of Special Local Character, and they say there is already care or shared housing next door and at the end of the road
  • fairness: the council is both the applicant and the body deciding the application

One couple asked for the application to go to the Planning Committee rather than be decided by officers. They also said a meeting at the property on 22 July was not open to all residents.

What it means for you

If you want to comment, you have until Wednesday 14 October. You can comment online through the planning register, quoting DM2026/00843. If you are not online, the site notice says you can call the council on 020 8770 5000 for a call back from the case officer. You can also write to Planning, London Borough of Sutton, Civic Offices, St Nicholas Way, Sutton SM1 1EA.

The council’s target date for a decision is Thursday 29 October. The register does not yet say whether officers or the Planning Committee will decide it. How applications reach the committee is changing this autumn under new national rules: see our report on the council’s planning reforms briefing. For how to follow other applications near you, see Sutton planning applications.