COUNCIL chiefs have ruled out a clampdown on the growth of student ghettos in Winchester despite pleas from residents.

The city council has powers to stop neighbourhoods being overrun by so-called houses of multiple occupation (HMOs) after the government removed the need for landlords to get planning permission.

The council considered the issue after calls to halt the rise of HMOs in Stanmore and tackle problems of parking, noise and littering.

Southampton, Portsmouth and Basingstoke have already approved Article 4 directions which mean planning consent is required to change a family home into a house shared by three to six unrelated residents.

But Winchester City Council aims to curb problems of anti-social behaviour with beefed-up patrols of neighbourhood wardens.

Across the city there are 1,188 HMOs, including 664 in St Michael's and 252 in St Luke's wards.

The proposals, which still have to be approved by Cabinet, come after a working group of councillors and senior officers looked into the issue.

A council report said the group did not support the use of Article 4 restrictions “at this stage as it was thought that the proliferation of HMOs had already reached a point where effectiveness would be reduced.”

In other words, it is too late. There are already an estimated 350 HMOs in Stanmore, equal to nearly a fifth of the estate. Students are the main occupants.

Councillor Jamie Scott, who represents Stanmore and chaired the working group, said to introduce Article 4 now would be “like bolting the stable door after the horse has gone” and it would not deal with anti-social behaviour.

“The houses are there now and it is not retrospective. Even if we introduced Article 4 directions it now it would not address the 2am taxi doors slamming, shouts and screaming and bins left out in the street.”

Mr Scott, who has lived all his life in Stanmore, said he had repeatedly raised the issue with the council since he was a community worker in the late 1990s.

He said: “In 1990, there were only about 50 HMOs in Stanmore. After that nearly every family home that went up for sale would go to a private landlord. It is not like that now although a few still do.

“Student numbers have levelled and the university is providing more accommodation for first years.”

The council is planning a one-year pilot of the neighbourhood patrols in HMO hot spots with a review after six months. Wardens will have the power to issue on-the-spot fines for littering, fly posting and cycling on pavements for the first time.

It will also consult the public about introducing tighter licensing controls of HMOs in Winchester city in an attempt to ensure they are properly maintained by landlords.

At present, planning permission is needed to turn houses into HMOs occupied by seven or more unrelated people. The previous Labour Government introduced a rule that all HMOs needed consent.

But the Coalition overturned the blanket restriction to allow developers to create smaller HMOs without needing to apply for planning permission.