Town hall meeting descends into chaos as residents call councillors ‘disgusting’ over HMO ruling

A council meeting descended into chaos after residents yelled insults at councillors and called them “disgusting” for not objecting to a house conversion.

The uproar happened at a Greenwich council planning meeting on Tuesday when officers said they would need to visit a home in Eltham before deciding if it should be allowed to be turned into a House in Multiple Occupation (HMO).

Building work on the property has already started, with applicant Yuntao Yi replacing the back doors of the building with windows, before the committee met.

Neighbours of Leverholme Gardens attended the meeting to make their case against the project which would see six people living in a former family home.

After councillors voted to hold off on making a decision, one neighbour shouted at the planning committee and said: “If that opens up as an HMO and I get one druggie, one issue, and there will be problems with this council.”

He added that he was worried the officers would visit on a quiet day and not understand the issue with parking in the area. “It’s an absolute joke, you call yourselves a council,” he said.

Susan Swan, another neighbour to the house, also shouted her frustrations, saying that the traffic on the road is so bad that she has to drive on the pavement outside her mum’s house when she is visiting her.

She added: “What if [the applicant] gets rejected? What are you going to do? Is he going to pay for it to be put back to a family home? He should be. It’s disgusting.”

Another addressed the panel and said: “Oh well, you’re not going to live there, are you? I’ve been there 61 years, and it’s so upsetting.”

The Eltham local said that the development would harm the chances of her selling her house, and called the plans “terrible” and “noisy”.

Councillor Rachel Taggart-Ryan interjected and asked the Chairperson, cllr Gary Dillon, to explain to the room that the council are actually holding off on making a decision because of the concerns raised by residents.

Cllr Dillon said: “This committee does not make the rules on HMO. It’s the government that makes legislation and guidance. If you are not happy with the legislation or guidance provided, which is online, you cannot blame the committee members for law and guidance. We are governed by law.

“Our decisions we make have to be made based on legal facts. We have deferred for a site visit because of the concerns you have raised. We have not gone into a decision based on legislation, which we could have done tonight.”

Pictured top: Councillor Gary Dillon at the Greenwich council meeting (Picture: Greenwich council)