PLANS have been submitted to convert a terraced house in Newport into a HMO for five people.

The applicant wants to develop a currently four-bedroomed home at 17 Fairoak Terrace into a HMO (house in multiple occupation) and has put forward plans to the city council.

The plans are currently out for public consultation and neighbours have already lodged objections amid concerns the HMO could deepen their existing parking problems.

Planning documents show the only redevelopment at the property would be the conversion of a ground-floor living room area into a bedroom, if the HMO is approved.

HMOs are residential properties with separate bedrooms and communal kitchen and bathroom facilities, which are typically used for housing single adults.

Several neighbour objections have been submitted to the city council, mainly on parking grounds.

One neighbour said there was "already a lack of parking, yet I am still paying for a parking permit to not be able to park in my own street".

Another said the area was "already burdened with competition for inadequate parking".

A third objected on similar grounds, claiming: "I struggle to park myself and often have to park in the car park on Chepstow Road and pay as I cannot park outside my property."

A council highways officer, however, said parking was "not an issue".

They calculated the proposed HMO would require "an additional two parking spaces" and a parking survey "suggests that these can be accommodated on-street within 200 metres of the property".

Other resident complaints centre on fears of anti-social behaviour and a perceived rise in the number of HMO applications locally.

"Our neighbourhood has seen a proliferation of HMO applications recently and it is a genuine worrying trend, there has been a rapid decline in the aesthetic and atmosphere on this area on a whole," one person said.

"It looks and feels like an area that is already in a spiral of decline."

They claimed that "granting the application would further add and speed up the process of decline of this area".

Another local said the area was "now suffering disproportionately from levels of anti-social behaviour".

They added: "I would hope the planning process would take into place the comments of local police with regards to the lane to the rear of Fairoak Terrace."

The HMO application for 17 Fairoak Terrace is currently out for consultation and can be viewed on the Newport City Council planning website under reference 23/0338.