RESIDENTIAL areas of Oxford face being overwhelmed by a planning “free for all” that could see hundreds of family homes homes converted into houses of multiple occupation (HMOs), it has been claimed.

Oxford City Council fears that Government changes to planning policy could leave it powerless to stop more parts of the city being transformed into “student ghettos”.

And it is mounting a legal challenge over a decision to scrap the need for homeowners to apply for planning permission to convert houses into HMOs.

The city council says it is to join a group of authorities led by Milton Keynes District Council, who are to ask the High Court for a judicial review of the Department of Communities and Local Government’s relaxation of planning laws relating to HMOs.

The councils claim that the Communities and Local Government Secretary did not carry out the required consultation before scrapping the previous policy.

And they say the policy will rob them of an important tool to regulate how and where HMOs spring up.

A spokesman for Oxford City Council, said: "We are challenging the Government’s decision, which came into force on October 1, because we feel that they did not adequately consult local authorities. They did not give sufficient attention to those that they did consult with. We are now waiting for the judge to give leave to go ahead with the judicial review.”

Oxford City Council deputy leader Ed Turner said planning powers were adopted by the Town Hall in April and revoked by the incoming Government in September. They had allowed the council to limit HMOs in parts of the city it felt were being overrun.

But he feared the new rules, automatically allowing someone to convert an ordinary house into a HMO without planning permission, could spark a student accommodation “free for all”.

He said: “In a city with more than 30,000 students you need some sort of planning control, some means of regulating that.”

Oxford has one of the highest levels of HMOs in the country, with an estimated 5,000 HMOs. While they were needed, Mr Turner said high concentrations risked causing social problems in some areas. He said: “There are issues around parking with households with four cars. There can be issues about noise.”

Last week, residents in East Oxford complained that rowdy students had inflicted ten days of misery for families, keeping them away until 4am night after night.

City landlords last week lodged a challenge to the city council’s plan to license every shared home in Oxford.