An Ormskirk councillor is actively driving to re-balance housing in the town centre and is currently focusing his attentions on providing high quality accommodation for students on campus, whilst freeing up town centre properties for local families and first-time buyers.

While the actual number of students at the university has reduced in recent years, there has been a significant increase in those choosing to study at Edge Hill also wanting to live on or near the campus, says Gareth Dowling.

This has led to local and out-of-town landlords snapping up properties in the area for conversion to Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) and leaving very few homes available for local young people to live in when they wish to fly the nest.

At February’s Planning Committee, chaired by Gareth, he granted the addition of 250 bed units in the centre of Edge Hill’s campus which will be a mix of halls, studio apartments and town houses.

With an increasing number of residential opportunities available on campus, the town is starting to see many HMOs left vacant, and it won’t be long before these properties are back on the market for local house hunters to buy.

Gareth said of the shift: “The expansion of the Edge Hill campus has no doubt brought benefits and issues to the local town, however, the key issue of housing demand has really impacted on local people as they struggle to move out of parents’ houses but still stay within the community in which they were raised.

“Edge Hill has planned for many years to increase the rooms on campus and as a Planning Committee we passed the most recent application with little to no objection from any local residents. This should yield great benefit by freeing up HMO properties in the town centre to be returned to family houses.

“This is important for the town centre, but just one of the many key issues I am working on, including community and public transport links, flooding and the roads network. If elected on May 4th I will continue to campaign on these matters to ensure our voice continues to be heard.”

Well done councillor Dowling
Great work 👍, Surprised the anti student brigade haven't piped up yet

All the empty promises coming out again because they want your votes,
Next we'll have Rosie promising to have the Burscough curves brought back to life

Oh dear - Cllr Dowling spends the first side of his election flyer for the County Council elections talking about student HMOs in Ormskirk which are nothing to do with the County Council ! - and he boasts that he granted permission for 250 campus beds to help the HMO situation in the town BUT he neglects to say that in the previous 12 months he also granted permission for HMOs in family accommodation in Marians Drive, Carroll Crescent and County Road. Still at least when talking about his priorities as a prospective County Councillor I see he lists transport, so we wait with baited breath to hear of his plans to solve the annual gridlock which affects all parts of the town during University Term time, especially in October and November.

I would be interested to hear about what community and transport links Councillor Dowling is working on ? He makes ' bold statements ' , but doesn't justify them . What exactly are you planning to do in regards to transports links ? What ideas have you ?