Heritage List Approved: Now We Need the Same Urgency to Stop HMOs in Erdington

What's happened

On 13 August 2026, Birmingham City Council's Planning Committee agreed to add five historic sites to the city's Local Heritage List. The newly protected sites include The Electric cinema on Station Street, Cherry Reds on John Bright Street, The Gazette Buildings, the medieval moat at Old Yardley Park, and The Old Windmill Pub on Dudley Road. According to the council's official announcement, this designation means the heritage significance of these assets becomes a material consideration in future planning decisions, offering a layer of defence against inappropriate redevelopment.

What it means for Erdington and Pype Hayes

While preserving Birmingham's cultural history is positive, the stark contrast in planning priorities is not lost on residents in Erdington and Pype Hayes. We are facing a very different kind of planning crisis: the relentless proliferation of Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) and runaway development that is fundamentally altering the character of our residential neighbourhoods. When the council wants to act quickly to protect the character of the city centre, it finds the resources and the political will to do so. Yet, when our community asks for the same robust defence of our family streets, we are met with bureaucratic delays and a planning system that seems weighted in favour of developers. The cost to residents is clear: stretched local services, parking chaos, and a loss of community cohesion.

Where I stand

As your Reform UK councillor, I believe that protecting the character of our city must extend beyond historic buildings in the centre; it must include the living, breathing communities in our suburbs. I welcome the protection of landmarks like The Electric cinema. However, the Planning Committee must demonstrate equal urgency in curbing the HMO conversions that are overwhelming our local infrastructure. The strongest counter-argument I hear from the council is that national planning frameworks limit their ability to block HMOs and that housing demand requires these conversions. While I respect the pressure the planning department is under to meet housing targets, cramming vulnerable people into converted family homes is not a sustainable housing strategy. We need a robust local plan that uses every available power to give local people a veto over inappropriate developments.

Questions we're asking

As the Reform UK opposition, I am putting these questions to the decision-maker on residents' behalf:

• To the Chair of the Planning Committee: Given the swift action taken on 13 August to protect five heritage sites, what specific, measurable steps is the committee taking this quarter to protect the character of residential streets in Erdington from over-concentration of HMOs?
• To the Chair of the Planning Committee: The council notes that heritage listing makes a site's character a material consideration in planning; will you commit to making the existing density of HMOs a binding material consideration for all new applications in Pype Hayes?
• To the Chair of the Planning Committee: How much council resource was allocated to assessing these five heritage sites, and how does that compare to the budget allocated for enforcing planning breaches in existing Erdington HMOs over the last financial year?
• To the Chair of the Planning Committee: If the current planning framework allows for the rapid protection of commercial and historical assets, why are Article 4 directions not being expanded with the same urgency to cover all vulnerable residential roads in our ward?

What happens next

The Planning Committee's decision takes immediate effect for the five heritage sites. Meanwhile, my office is compiling a comprehensive dossier of problematic HMO applications in Pype Hayes and Erdington to present at the next full council meeting. We are demanding a review of how local character is defined and protected in suburban planning applications, and we will not stop pushing until our streets get the same level of protection as city centre monuments.

Have your say

This is your ward, and your voice matters. Please register on the site to leave a comment below, vote in our ward forum poll, and sign our ongoing petition to demand stricter controls on HMO conversions in Erdington and Pype Hayes.

Source: Birmingham City Council