Comment: The shameful state of rubbish strewn streets in parts of Leamington

Local estate agents are rubbing their hands with glee at the news that Leamington Spa has pipped both Warwick and Great Malvern to the top spot in the Sunday Times’ guide to the Best Places to Live in the Midlands. However, many local business owners are wondering what criteria could possibly have justified this accolade.

As many of us are painfully aware, the huge number of large shared student rental properties (HMOs) in central Leamington’s Clarendon Ward is the main reason for the shameful state of our rubbish strewn streets. Lax planning controls, feeble enforcement of license conditions and inadequate waste collection have all conspired to create an untenable situation which is likely to deteriorate into a very real public health hazard as temperatures rise and the risk of vermin increases. The recent introduction of the 123+ collection system has exacerbated an already serious problem by reducing collection frequency and shows quite clearly that Warwick District Council (WDC) is failing in its statutory duty to provide residents with fit-for-purpose service.

When HMO landlords convert family homes into student accommodation, they are obviously seeking to get the highest return on investment possible. Leaving adequate space for the storage of waste pending collection has obviously not been one of their priorities. WDC’s own website states categorically that ‘up to two sacks can be placed out for collection each fortnight’, but this is manifestly inadequate when you consider that some of these households comprise more than 15 adults.

The evidence from the streets shows that students are left with no other option than to ‘store’ waste on the pavement, and with bi-weekly collections, the number of bags can multiply to the point where huge accumulations of them, overflowing and spilling their foul contents, are actually blocking the public right of way.

This is of course having an adverse effect on local businesses and their customers.

Independent shops and businesses on Park Street and Warwick Street have all commented on the amount of waste strewn across the pavements. How do you think they feel when shoppers have to walk around piles of stinking refuse to get onto their premises? It’s not the image that they want to convey and it lets the town down horribly. They are after all already paying significant business tax rates and for private waste collection services on many occasions too.

These days, the first impression of the town that many visitors receive as they drive along Dale Street is not of glorious Regency facades, it is the appalling sight of bursting black bags and their contents. And what of our celebrated Regency crescents, our wealth of Victorian town houses and the iconic architectural gem of Clarendon Square? Most of Clarendon ward is a designated Conservation Area and yet our precious heritage is literally decaying before our eyes with peeling paint and crumbling stucco, testimony to the fact that if a building is merely a cash cow, its landlord is unlikely to invest significantly in its upkeep.

There are now virtually no owner occupiers on some streets in the ward, including Warwick Street, Regent Street, Chandos Street and Oxford Street.

An HMO is an investment vehicle for landlords, not a solution to Leamington’s housing crisis. Without a fit-for-purpose student housing policy in place to protect our cultural capital, the housing stock of the town has been hollowed out in the interests of private landlords.

Since 2012, there has been an attempt to limit any further HMO growth, but where there’s a will, there’s always a way.

Landlords have now found an equally lucrative route to servicing the accommodation requirements of students by mutilating the town’s unique legacy of Victorian and Regency townhouses.

The result is a plethora of tiny studio flats and one-bedroomed apartments, allowing landlords to circumvent planning controls and HMO restrictions.

Completely unsuitable for family or long-term accommodation for permanent residents, these inadequate spaces are almost exclusively buy-to-let and are equally responsible for removing some of the town’s most unique architecture.