Newport HMO guidance could gain two new tests aimed at stopping family homes being boxed in by shared houses and preventing short runs of adjoining HMOs. The council has authorised a six-week public consultation on the proposed changes across Newport.
This is not a new Article 4 Direction and it does not change whether planning permission is needed. Wales does not provide permitted development rights for changing a dwellinghouse in use class C3 into a small HMO in use class C4, so that change normally requires a planning application. The proposal instead concerns how Newport would assess HMO planning applications once the amended guidance is formally adopted.
If you are looking at an HMO in the city, the important point I would keep in mind is that the tests are not yet policy. The consultation must take place, responses must be considered and the Cabinet Member for Housing and Planning must then decide whether to adopt the amendments, with or without changes.
What the Newport HMO guidance would change
The decision was taken on 7th October 2026 and published with a call-in period. It became effective at noon on 15th October unless a valid call-in request had been made. The published decision authorises consultation for six weeks, but Newport had not published fixed opening and closing dates when I checked the council record.
The first proposal is a new “sandwiching” test. A new HMO would normally be unacceptable where it would leave a dwellinghouse between HMOs on both sides along the same frontage. The test would also apply where an HMO is next to a dwelling and another is immediately opposite it on the same street.
In practical terms, the Newport HMO guidance would look much more closely at the relationship between a proposed shared house and its immediate neighbours.
The second proposal is an “immediate concentration” test. This is intended to prevent a dominant cluster of three or more adjoining HMOs along the same frontage. The draft explains that an incidental break, such as an alley or access, would not necessarily stop properties from counting as an immediate concentration.
Those additions would sit alongside Newport’s existing approach, including a 15% HMO threshold within a 50-metre radius. The council considered calls for the radius to be increased to 100 metres, but officers said a larger radius would dilute the percentage effect of each additional HMO and that the current calculation was more restrictive.
Why Newport is proposing the changes
Newport’s current HMO Supplementary Planning Guidance was adopted in August 2015 and updated in January 2017. It provides detailed criteria for applying the adopted Local Development Plan when the council decides HMO applications.
The authority is also preparing a Replacement Local Development Plan to guide development up to 2036. Joint research for Newport, Cardiff and Rhondda Cynon Taf, followed by further work commissioned by Newport, recommended changes to the way HMO development is managed.
The proposed Newport HMO guidance draws on that work while the replacement plan moves through its own examination and adoption process.
The council says the immediate amendments are an interim step. They are meant to strengthen the existing guidance before the replacement plan is adopted, currently anticipated by December 2027. A more comprehensive HMO policy is included in the emerging plan and would carry greater weight once adopted.
In the report, officers said the tests were designed to address possible noise, disturbance, waste-management problems and effects on community cohesion. They also stressed that HMOs make a valuable contribution to Newport’s housing stock and meet the needs of a wide range of residents.
That balance matters. The Newport HMO guidance would not create a ban or an automatic reason to refuse every proposal near another shared house. It would provide two additional decision-making tests, while each application would still need to be assessed on its own facts and against the development plan as a whole.
What the proposal would not do
The distinction between planning and HMO licensing remains important. A planning decision considers the use of land and matters such as amenity, character, parking and design. Licensing deals with a separate housing-law regime, including management and safety standards. Our HMO planning guide explains the planning route in more detail.
Some councillors argued for wider changes, including larger bedrooms, stronger parking evidence, additional waste and cycle-storage requirements and closer links between planning and licensing. Officers responded that Supplementary Planning Guidance cannot take over matters controlled by building regulations or HMO licensing.
They also said existing planning policies already require adequate waste storage and communal space, while parking remains a material planning consideration assessed through Newport’s parking guidance. Room sizes, light, outlook and the position of shared facilities may still be relevant to the quality of accommodation, but the council must stay within the proper scope of planning control.
The proposed Newport HMO guidance therefore has a narrower purpose than some of the political debate around it. Its two headline changes are the sandwiching test and the adjoining-cluster test. Other questions are likely to be dealt with through the replacement plan, separate guidance or the relevant licensing and building-control systems.
What happens after consultation
The council says the consultation will run for at least six weeks. Interested residents, landlords, applicants and professional advisers will be able to comment once Newport publishes the consultation material and dates.
After the consultation closes, officers will report the responses to the Cabinet Member for Housing and Planning. A further decision will then be needed on whether to adopt the amendments. The tests will carry their intended weight in planning decisions only after consultation and formal adoption.
The published decision records that the amended guidance was “released for public consultation for a period of 6 weeks”. Formal adoption would require a further decision after responses have been considered.
Until that happens, the existing 2017 guidance remains the adopted document. Applicants should not present the draft tests as if they are already binding, but it would be unwise to ignore the direction of travel when assessing a new HMO proposal in Newport.
I would check three things before committing to a scheme: whether the proposed use needs planning permission, how the existing 15% test applies around the property and whether the proposal would fail either of the two draft proximity tests if they are adopted. The Newport HMO guidance is moving towards a more street-level assessment, not simply a broad percentage across a neighbourhood.
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