HOUSE-shares could be targeted in a Swindon parish’s neighbourhood plan, councillors have said.

According to council figures the number of houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) in the town have more than doubled in a decade.

A council license is needed for any house share over three storeys high, where five or more people will live. There are currently 130 licensed HMOs – with most in Broadgreen, Eastcott and the town centre – and there could be as many as 977 smaller house shares in the town.

Residents and councillors say that HMOs can bring litter, parking and noise problems.

Now, South Swindon parish councillors have suggested that the house shares could be targeted in a new neighbourhood plan for the area.

Coun Stan Pajak said that problems associated HMOs were a “real thing for the town centre”. A neighbourhood plan could address this along with heritage buildings and the availability of green spaces, he said.

Neighbourhood plans, which were introduced by the government in 2011, are a way for communities to set planning policies – directing where new homes should be built.

Last year, parish councillors voted to delay a decision about whether to press ahead with formulating a neighbourhood plan.

That vote followed criticism from Wroughton Parish Council that their plan was unable to stop a bid to build 103 homes signed off by central government last year – after the borough had not hit housebuilding targets. Holly Woodward, one of those who worked to research and produce the Neighbourhood Plan, said: “It has proved to be a total waste of effort.”

The Wroughton decision had clearly spooked parish councillors. Coun Paul Dixon said that it would take further research to understand the “impact” of the Wroughton decision.

Coun John Hopkins said: “I don’t think it’s something we can rush into.

“I think fundamentally the lack of house building within Swindon Borough Council’s area is something that could significantly impact the value [of the plan].

“If that’s going to be a continuing problem - if we’re not going to be able to address that over the next few years - it’s probably telling us there isn’t a lot of point in spending a lot of money and a lot of time and resource in doing this.”

However, councillors said that a neighbourhood plan could help them control other aspects of local development – including new HMOs, building on green spaces and the impact of developments on local heritage.

Coun Pajak said: “Those aspects are things that the neighbourhood plan can start to address. The unfortunate thing is that they do take time.”

Coun Hopkins added: “It will give us a little bit more control over HMOs, parking issues and all the other things that go into the incidents and the issues that we have to deal with as councillors and residents.”

The parish councillors agreed to a proposal made by Coun Dixon to form a five-member working party, who will investigate the costs involved in developing a plan. They are due to report back in June.