MOVES to restrict the amount of student housing in certain parts of Exeter have taken another step forward.

Exeter City Council is seeking views on stricter controls. It has been looking for a while now on how it can address concerns about the imbalance of communities due to increasing numbers of shared student houses.

The city council has published consultation notices that it is proposing to restrict home owners ‘Permitted Development’ rights to use their property as houses in multiple occupation (HMOs).

This would apply to the St James area of the city and around 7,000 properties of which about 1,400 are already HMOs.

Rachel Sutton, Lead Councillor for Sustainable Development and Transport, said: “We feel that further planning controls are needed due to the continued growth of student houses in the area, which is leading to imbalanced communities.

“In some streets up to 80% of properties are entirely occupied by students.

“In the St James Ward as a whole, over a quarter of homes are entirely occupied by students.

"We need extra planning powers to seek to ensure that further growth in the student population is more widely spread around Exeter’s local communities.

“The consultation will give everyone living in the area most affected the chance to have their views heard.

“While many residents appear to welcome the proposed control, we are aware that there are streets where some residents are concerned about the implications."

The proposed restrictions would not be implemented until December 31, 2011 and would not affect properties currently used as HMOs.

Consultation letters are being sent to the occupiers of all homes within the area directly affected by the proposals.

The council will be giving further consideration at a later date to the planning policies that it will apply when determining planning applications for HMO uses within the area where consent is required.

The consultation closes on December 3.