NEW rules to stop the spread of shared houses in residential areas have been unveiled by Oxford City Council.

Residents’ groups have complained parts of the city were fast becoming “student ghettos” in recent months.

Now the city council has for the first time drawn up a plan which would set tight limits on the number of multi-occupied houses on streets.

It wants to impose a threshold limiting the number of houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) to a maximum of 20 per cent of houses in any 100 metre stretch of residential street.

Oxford has the 14th highest number of houses in multiple occupation in the UK, with high concentrations in Headington and East Oxford.

It is estimated that some 5,000 households in Oxford are HMOs, which represents about eight per cent of all households.

A council spokesman said: “Planning policy should strike a balance between flexible, affordable accommodation and the need to sustain a balanced and established community.

“As such, our preferred option puts forward a threshold for the proportion of properties, within a particular segment of street, which may become HMOs.

“The city council considers that allowing the number of HMOs to exceed this threshold would represent a potential over-concentration.”

While the rule will not apply retrospectively, any homeowner who converted a shared house into a family home, and then sought to turn it back into student housing, would have to apply for planning permission again.

The city council’s deputy leader Ed Turner said as a result, he expected the proportion of shared houses in some areas would begin to decrease over time.

Elizabeth Mills, chairman of Divinity Road Area Residents’ Association, which has campaigned against the student ‘colonisation’ of Headington and the spread of HMOs, welcomed the news.

She said: “We are delighted.

“In principle it sounds great, although 20 per cent still seems high. It would at least mean planning permission not being granted in many cases.”

In January, Oxford became the first city to license all shared houses in a bid to tackle rogue landlords and troublesome tenants.

The city’s new housing document also seeks to boost the number of affordable homes built in the city.

It is ready to revise its policy to ensure that developers building homes on small sites in future will have to make a financial contribution to affordable homes.

The current Local Plan demands that half of any development of 10 or more new homes must be affordable.

The council spokesman said: “The council has looked at the viability of these smaller sites of less than 10 units making a contribution towards the provision of affordable housing elsewhere in Oxford.

“It is important that these small sites make a contribution to mixed and balanced communities in Oxford.”

Oxford streets with high numbers of HMOs include: Regent Street, Divinity Road, Marston Street, St Mary’s Road, Valentia Road, Howard Street, James Street and Gipsy Lane