City Council votes in article 4

At a meting this week the Executive of Lincoln City Council voted to implement Article 4 in the city.

Article 4 will give the city council more powers to regulate what types of housing is built in the city and how existing buildings are converted for different use.

Cllr Neil Murray said:

“Supporting Article 4 in Lincoln is the first step in rebuilding community cohesion.”

Robin Lewis, a member of the West End Residents Association (WERA), which has campaigned for Article 4, said the group was very pleased with the vote. He said:

” A huge amount of work has gone into the last 12 months events but now it does feel that it was worthwhile. It would probably be somewhat churlish to suggest that this should all have taken place several years ago and probably should not have needed the kickstart to the process which WERA provided.

“We were aware from the beginning that once approved Article 4 would take about 12 months to become fully operational so that situation was fully anticipated. At least the West End community now knows that an end is probably coming into view of the ongoing process of conversion of family dwellings in the area to HMOs and hopefully this will encourage families to stay in the area and possibly make the area attractive to families who may be considering moving in. The West End does still have such a lot to offer.  ”

Elly Sample, Director of Communications, Development and Marketing, at the University of Lincoln, said:

“Our priority is to ensure there is a supply of high quality student accommodation
across Lincoln, including the private rented housing sector.

“The City of Lincoln Council has now made the decision to pursue implementation
of Article 4, which will involve a consultation process with the wider community.
The University will be making its responses to the proposal as part of that formal
process.”