Family homes are being 'lost' as more properties in Stockport are turned into house shares, a councillor has said.

Matt Wynne, a Councillor in Edgeley and leader of the Stockport Community Group, said growing numbers of houses of multiple occupation (HMOs) are having a major impact on the borough's streets.

He accused Stockport council of 'failing' to act on a vote in 2022 which called for new measures to give residents and councillors 'democratic oversight of whether all residential-to-HMO conversions are suitable in neighbourhoods affected.'

This would be done through a process known as an article four direction and brought in through the draft local plan – a document outlining the future of housing and development.

Cllr Wynne wrote in a social media post to residents that an article four direction would mean HMO proposals need planning permission, creating a chance to consider their impact on neighbourhoods rather than happening 'automatically through permitted development rights.'

He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "Residents in Stockport's inner town neighbourhoods are paying the price for the Council's failure to act on the 2022 Article 4 motion I brought forward and every member of that council chamber voted for.

"The delay is resulting in an unacceptable number of family homes being lost to HMO conversions and the character of residential streets is now starting to change.

"The administration makes plenty of noise when it's covering for its own planning mistakes, but goes strangely quiet when it comes to delivering what all 63 councillors have already backed."

Castle Street in Edgeley (Image - Nub News)

Stockport council is led by the Lib Dems under a minority administration.

The draft local plan was moving ahead but was delayed after Stockport was given higher housebuilding targets after Labour's general election victory in 2024.

Cllr Jake Austin, Stockport's cabinet member for housing, said: "The original motion passed in 2022 asked for work towards an article 4 direction to be undertaken as part of the work on the draft local plan.

"It was included in the draft local plan we published in July 2024, which was blocked by the new government, and is included in the new version which went out to consultation at the end of 2025.

"In addition, as Cllr Wynne has been told, a report exploring the options available to us with an article 4 direction will be coming to the council's next scrutiny meeting, and work has been in progress for this long before the motion came forward.

"As an administration, we have a duty to represent our residents across the whole borough, and our action will reflect this."

The issue is set to be discussed again at a council meeting on Thursday this week.

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